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History · Bena

Bena’s post office opened in 1898, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Most of Bena was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1970. Its Register listing is the Winnibigoshish Resort. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1971 on, and the census since 1910.

1898first post office
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Bena’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Bena began

When was Bena founded?

1898

The Bena post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 179 in 19102020 census: 143128 years
Founding year: the first Bena post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Bena’s past

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

Boom and bustPeaked at 331 in 1950; 143 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · People over time

Bena, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 331

Peaked at 331 in 1950; 143 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

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

The story

How Bena came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bena.

Read it all →

A post office called Bena has been in operation since 1898. Bena is a type of bird mentioned in the poem The Song of Hiawatha. The Ojibwe word bina' is the word for partridge, a very common bird in this area.

Both the Big Fish Supper Club and the Big Winnie General Store are landmarks associated with the city of Bena.

From 1901-1911, the Bena Boarding School, an American Indian residential school, operated in Bena. Hundreds of Native American students were brought to the school.

Late in World War II, a logging camp manned by prisoners of war was located at the site of an old CCC camp near Bena. Two German POWs escaped from the camp in 1944 for a short period.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Bena, 1898 to 1980

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1898Post officeThe Bena post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1918Born hereJames Robb is born here
  5. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 331
  6. 1971On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1980In the archiveBig Fish Supper Club
By decade

Bena, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1980s6 items
Big Fish Supper Club1980Big Fish Supper ClubBig Fish Supper Club1980Big Fish Supper ClubBig Fish Supper Club1980Big Fish Supper ClubBig Fish Supper Club1980Big Fish Supper ClubBig Fish Supper Club1980Big Fish Supper ClubBig Fish Supper Club1980Big Fish Supper Club
1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today6 recent
Bena, Minnesota-07 Playground2023Bena, Minnesota-07 PlaygroundBena, Minnesota-06 US Post Office2023Bena, Minnesota-06 US Post OfficeBena, Minnesota-052023Bena, Minnesota-05Bena, Minnesota-04. Baseball field, Matthees Memorial Ball ParkJPG2023Bena, Minnesota-04. Baseball field, Matthees Memorial…Bena, Minnesota-03 Matthees Memorial Ball Park2023Bena, Minnesota-03 Matthees Memorial Ball ParkBena, Minnesota-02 Demo Park2023Bena, Minnesota-02 Demo Park
On the map

Bena on the map, 1971 to 1996

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

Bena on the 1971 USGS mapBena on the 1996 USGS map1971Bena sheet · 1:24,000

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

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Big Fish Supper Club
Retake this viewBig Fish Supper Club, 1980

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Bena’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Bena

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
12
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
Winnibigoshish Resort
Winnibigoshish Resort
Buildings
Winnibigoshish ResortBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Finish Bena’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBig Fish Supper Club: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Bena’s history

What year was Bena founded?

The Bena post office opened in 1898, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Bena?

One place: the Winnibigoshish Resort (listed 1980).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.