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History · Bentley

Bentley’s post office opened in 1888, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1889 on and the census since 1960.

1888first post office
0on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Bentley began

When was Bentley founded?

1888

The Bentley post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 204 in 19602020 census: 560138 years
Founding year: the first Bentley post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Bentley’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Bentley are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18896 editions of the USGS map, 1889 to 1990. Watch Bentley change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bentley’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bentley’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Bentley on the map, 1889 to 1990

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bentley. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Bentley on the 1889 USGS mapBentley on the 1891 USGS mapBentley on the 1958 USGS mapBentley on the 1978 USGS mapBentley on the 1985 USGS mapBentley on the 1990 USGS map1889Cheney sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bentley.

The story

How Bentley came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bentley.

Read it all →

In 1887, the Kansas Midland Railway was built from Wichita to Ellsworth, a distance of 107 miles, and the building of this line bisected Eagle Township and established a depot and town on section 11, Eagle Township. The line was purchased outright by The Frisco on October 1, 1900. The Frisco was merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1980, later it abandoned the line in 1994.

Bentley was laid out in 1888. It is named in honor of the city's founder Orsemus Hills Bentley, a railroad official from Wichita.

The first post office in Bentley was established in March 1888.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Bentley, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Detailed map of2010Detailed map ofMap
People over time

Bentley, census by census

01002003004005006001960198020002020560

Grew from 204 people in 1960 to 560 in 2020.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bentley’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Bentley

Nobody well known was born in Bentley itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Colton HaynesAmerican actor and model · b. 1986
Ivan RileyAthletics competitor · b. 1900
Guy BallardAmerican mining engineer, founder of the "I AM"… · b. 1878
T
Tom AdairAmerican lyricist, composer, and screenwriter · b. 1913
Adolph RuppAmerican college basketball coach · b. 1901
E
Eleanor CarothersAmerican zoologist, geneticist, and cytologist · b. 1882

Questions about Bentley’s history

What year was Bentley founded?

The Bentley post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.