–Not graded

History · Benton

32% of Benton’s homes were built before 1940

3 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1952 on, and the census since 1880.

3on the National Register

32%homes built before 1940

2old photos & papers

1famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Benton’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Benton’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Benton’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2 Retake an old viewMartin Mine: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

The story

How Benton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Benton.

Read it all →

Benton was named for Thomas Hart Benton, a U.S. senator from Missouri. Up until that point, the community was known as Swindler's Ridge.

The pioneer priest Father Samuel Mazzuchelli founded the village's Catholic parish, Saint Patrick's Church. Father Mazzuchelli is buried in Saint Patrick's cemetery. He was declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II in 1993, and the case for his Sainthood is still pending.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Benton in 1881

Passages that mention Benton, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The village of Benton is centrally located in the town of that name, being the east half of the southwest quarter of Section 9, and is contained on the original area of about 80 acres. It was laid out March 18, 1844, on land owned by Dennis Murphy, the survey being made by John Burrell, assisted by… — **History of Lafayette county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources**1881 · page 557Read the page →
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The village of Benton is centrally located in the town of that name, being the east half of the southwest quarter of Section 9, and is contained on the original area of about 80 acres. It was laid out March 18, 1844, on land owned by Dennis Murphy, the survey being made by John Burrell, assisted by Matt Murphy, and portioned into eight blocks of four lots each, divided by Main, Bean, Catharine and Jackson streets. The only house on the village site was a saloon and grocery store on Bean street, carried on by Henry Myers and E. B. Parish. In 1845, Joseph Arnold erected a residence on Main street, which has since been re-constructed and repaired, and is now occupied by M. Murphy. The same year Charles Ilewett put up a
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

The town of Elk Grove is bounded on the north by the towns of Belmont and Kendall, on the east by the towns of Kendall and Center, on the south by Benton and Shullsburg, and west by the town of Benton and county of Grant. It comprises the north half of Township 2, Range 1 ; the south half of Townsh… — **History of Lafayette county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources**1881 · page 602Read the page →
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The town of Elk Grove is bounded on the north by the towns of Belmont and Kendall, on the east by the towns of Kendall and Center, on the south by Benton and Shullsburg, and west by the town of Benton and county of Grant. It comprises the north half of Township 2, Range 1 ; the south half of Township 3, Range 1, and west half of Township 2, Range 2, east of the Fourth Principal Meridian. The town takes its name from a beautiful and valuable growth of heavy timber extending for miles through its center, in former times much frequented by game of all descriptions. It is a rich agricultural town, containing scarcely a tract of refuse land, and is well watered.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Benton, 1847 to 1952

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

19th century
1847Born hereJacob Fawcett is born here
20th century
1915In the archiveMartin Mine
1952On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

By decade

Benton, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item

1915Martin Mine

1920s–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

Date unknown1 to date

Coltman Bridge, Spanning Fever River, on Horseshoe Bend Road

Date?Coltman Bridge, Spanning Fever River, on Horseshoe Be…

On the map

Benton on the map in 1952

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

1952Cuba City 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 Benton.

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.

Retake this viewMartin Mine, 1915

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

Retake this view · +15

On the National Register

3 historic places in Benton

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

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

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

People over time

Benton, census by census

Between 254 and 983 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map

JenkinsvilleStrawbridge

Gone or out of use

Burkett MinemineCentral SchoolschoolNew Dall Minemine

1cemetery inside Benton

Providence

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.

New Diggings1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Cuba CityIts storyB⁻Hazel Green1 historic placeA⁻Hazel GreenIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town SmelserIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Elk GroveIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Benton’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 the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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