Snapshots of History – Methodist Church at Benton
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
M. E. Church at Benton about 1910.
By Mike Avitt
The picture with this week’s article shows the Methodist Church at Benton around 1910.
It was built in 1890, in part, with money raised by having a livestock auction. It was the first church built in the new town of Benton.
Let’s look at the early years in Benton.
Before Benton came into being, There was a community nearby called Enterprise.
The center of the community was a schoolhouse called Enterprise (Rice Township No. 3). It was located in section 8 of Rice Twp., one and one-fourth miles east of today’s Benton corner.
A new school was built in 1882 to replace the dilapidated one. Many religious services were held at the new school building including Prohibitionist Classes. Pastors, Brothers, Elders, and church leaders from the area participated.
Then, in late 1887, the Chicago, St. Paul, & Kansas City Railway laid their tracks through present-day Benton. And it didn’t take long for things to happen.
The new town was platted in June 1887 and the first lot was sold to Fred Morrill in December. In January 1888, The first freight shipment was received at the depot for a grocer in Mount Ayr.
Mr. Morrill opened a blacksmith shop in February of 1888 and became Benton’s first resident and business owner. Mr. S. Hall was the realtor handling the lots. Late in February 1888, A. F. Callen bought the second lot in Benton.
In April 1888 a post office was established under the name of Bloomington.
It turns out not everyone was onboard with the name of Benton. This would be a point of contention for two years.
Anyway, the first postmaster was W. M. Welcher (Welsher), with A. F. Callen as assistant, and the first mail carrier was a Mr. Golliday. Mr. Callen opened a general store by the end of spring.
In the spring of 1889, T. L. Tullis, the Mount Ayr livery man, started a hack line from Mount Ayr to Bloomington. One of the things this service provided was an early delivery of Des Moines newspapers. Subscribers in Mount Ayr could get their newspapers six hours earlier and that was a big deal in a time before radio and television.
Also, a handful of houses were built in 1889.
In 1890, McKnight & Suppes established a lumber yard which facilitated house construction and agriculture building. McKnight would later open Benton’s first bank. And, in the last week of April 1890, Bloomington’s name was changed to Benton at the post office.
In 1891, William Sherrill opened a hotel. Mr. Sherrill had co-founded Knowlton in 1888. Knowlton and Benton were on the same railroad line.
I mentioned Fred Morrill earlier. He had a brick kiln in Marshalltown (northeast of Benton) in the mid-1880s and was living and working in Redding before he moved to Benton. He later had a blacksmith shop in Knowlton.
Today, Benton is in Waubonsie Township. Previously, Benton was on the border of Rice and Benton Townships.
In 1916, when the new high school was built, the Ringgold County Board of Supervisors established Waubonsie Township to accommodate the Benton Independent School District.
And that’s why Ringgold County now has seventeen townships.
