Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Benson

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Benson

24% of Benson’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1985 on and the census since 1860.

0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Benson’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 Benson are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1880 and 1930, then grew 3-fold.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Benson’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Benson, census by census

0100200300400190019502000402 in 1880Low: 69

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1880 and 1930, then grew 3-fold.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

The story

How Benson came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Benson.

Read it all →

Benson was formed in 1860 from the towns of Hope and Mayfield (now in Fulton County). Benson once possessed an iron mine.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Benson, 1853 to 1985

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1853Post officeThe Benson Centre post office opens
  3. 1880CensusPopulation peaks at 402
  4. 20th century
  5. 1906Born hereHelen Corbitt is born here
  6. 1914Post officeThe Benson Centre post office closes
  7. 1985On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Benson on the map in 1985

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Benson.

Benson on the 1985 USGS map1985Gloversville sheet · 1:100,000

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Another post office, Benson Centre, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Upper Benson

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

HopeIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBleecker1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMayfield2 historic placesA−Wells1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNorthampton3 historic placesA+

Questions about Benson’s history

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 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.