Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1872.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Benton Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Benton Township is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Benton Township’s overall grade.
Pennsylvania towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Pennsylvania town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Benton Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (25% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1793.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.0 points).
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Benton Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Benton Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1894Bloomsburg sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Benton Township.
Timeline
Benton Township, 1793 to 1923
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Benton area was first settled by two families in 1792. A schoolhouse was opened in 1799. Starting around 1860, tanning and lumber industries began to grow north of the borough. By 1868, Benton had about fifty houses. In the year of 1910, Benton was destroyed by a fire. Two teenagers lit firecrackers in a hay barn, which caught fire and caused over sixty buildings to burn, as the town did not yet have a water system. As a result, the Benton Dam was built in 1915. However, this was not the end of Benton's disasters. Another fire struck just one year later destroying more houses. Again in 1962, a fire ripped through the town, destroying the distillery and its warehouse containing over 17,000 bottles of whiskey. In 2011, Benton was also devastated by a flood. And on April 15, 2019, an EF2 tornado touched down in Benton, damaging nine trailers and up to 50 homes and businesses.[1] Despit…
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.
In 1793, according to Wikidata. Benton Township’s post office opened in 1872, and the census of 1880 counted 191 people here.
How does Benton Township rank for history?
Benton Township is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Benton Township?
26% of Benton Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1976.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (3), 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.
1923
1923