Benton County

At the beginning of the settlement of the territory now embraced in this county, it was occupied by roving bands of the Osage and Delaware tribes of Indians, though it was not then and had not been the permanent location of these tribes. While the tribes were at enmity with each other, they were at peace with the whites, and friendly to the early settlers. Removal of Cherokee Indians The Indians were not numerous here, and did not remain long after the settlement by the whites began. In 1837 the removal of the Cherokee Indians from Georgia to the Indian […]

The first jail for Benton County, which was erected immediately after its organization, stood on the north side of the east and west street, about sixty yards east of the northeast corner of the public square, in Bentonville. It was a small building, consisting of a double wall of squared logs, with a cavity of several inches space between the walls. In this cavity poles were stood upon end, thus making what might be called a third or interior wall. In April, 1860, the county court made the following entry upon the record of its proceedings, to-wit: This being the

The village of Maysville, one of the oldest in the county, is situated on the Arkansas State and Indian Territory line, twenty-one miles west and one and a-half miles north of Bentonville. An Englishman by the name of Tigret opened the first store in Maysville, in 1839. His most profitable trade was selling whisky to the Indians. He continued in business about ten years, and then returned to his native country, where he died. The second merchant in the place was a Jew, who did business about three years. Early in the forties Maysville contained six or seven stores, all

Lowell is a station on the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, located six miles south of Rogers. It was laid out in 1881 by J. R. McClure. J. W. Main built the first house in the place, and opened the first business – a grocery. Next, M. B. Hathaway erected the building now occupied by J. W. Williams, and opened a general store therein. The business at this writing (1889) consists of two general stores, kept respectively by J. W. Williams and F. H. Rizer; a drug and grocery store, by Green Bros.; a grocery, by R. H. Odell;

About 1848 William Wells, from Washington County, Arkansas, settled one mile south of Sulphur Springs. In 1851 G. W. Mitchell, from Tennessee, settled on the site of the present village of Bloomfield, and H. T. Gillespie, from North Carolina, settled where he now lives on the Line Road, two miles south of Cherokee City. About the year 1855 James Ingle settled two and a half miles northeast of Bloomfield. In 1855 Jesse Benton settled where he now lives on Honey Creek, eight miles west of Sulphur Springs. He came from Georgia. Prior to 1853 the following persons settled in the

The site of Benton County is the plateau of the Ozark Mountains, the greatest unbroken portion of which in this State lies west of White River, in the counties of Benton and Washington. The elevation of the county above sea level averages from 1,400 to 1,600 feet, and the summit of Poor Mountain, in the northeastern part, is probably the highest point. With the exception of a strip of land about two miles wide, extending from Rogers to the southern boundary, the whole surface of the county lying east of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad is so broken

The following section of this website is based upon History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas published in Chicago, Illinois in 1889, and several other manuscripts interspersed throughout. A list of works consulted for this history is located at the bottom of this page. The county of Benton lies in the extreme northwestern corner of the State of Arkansas, and is bounded north by McDonald and Barry Counties in the State of Missouri, east by Carroll and Madison Counties in Arkansas, south by Washington County in the same State, and west by the Indian Territory.

In July, 1884, A. J. Wilks, J. N. Ingram, J. B. Lamkins, J. C. Vandagriff and others filed with the court a petition for the formation of a new township within the following boundary lines, to-wit: “Beginning at the northeast corner of Section 26, in Township 21 north, Range 28 west; thence west to the northeast corner of Section 29; thence north to the northeast corner of Section 20; thence west to the northwest corner of Section 19; thence south in Range 29 to the northeast corner of Section 25; thence west to the northwest corner of same; thence south

In the constitution of 1836, under which the State of Arkansas was admitted into the Union, under Article VII, is found the following general provision pertaining to education, viz.: “Knowledge and learning, generally diffused through a community, being essential to the preservation of a free government, and diffusing the opportunities and advantages of education through the various parts of the State being highly conducive to this end, it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide by law for the improvement of such lands as are or hereafter may be granted by the United States to this State

The first general election in Benton County was held in August, 1838, being for the election of governor, members of the Legislature and county officers. The whole number of votes cast in the county on that occasion was 272. Politically the county has always been strongly Democratic. and that party has always elected its officers with the exception of the period following the war, when Democrats who had participated in the Rebellion were disfranchised. During that period Republican officers were elected, and since that time up to the present year the Republicans of Benton County have not had a ticket