Benton City Real Estate
Benton City History
Would you like to know more about how this fascinating, beautiful, and charming community with gorgeous landscapes came to be? The quaint little town of Benton City, Washington, was incorporated as an official town on July 2, 1945, but its interesting history stems back approximately another 35 years.
Benton City was actually first founded back in 1909, by an engineer working on the Oregon Washington Railroad and Navigation line, named F.L. Pitman. A year later, in 1910, Benton City’s first railway station was built and established, located close to the “Benton City” sign, which is on the railroad across the street from the vet clinic that is there today.
Benton City was originally established as an intersecting point of the Walla Walla River and the North Yakima line of the Oregon Washington Railroad and Navigation Company. This line was built in order to give Yakima a faster shipping facility coming out of the valley into the Eastern areas.
After a number of years, the town site became the property of new trustees Spokane and Eastern Trust Company, after which chief Sunnyside builder S.J. Harrison organized the Benton Land Company to further handle the town site.
The original land office of Benton City was located in the home of Walter Jacobs but was operated and run by Percy F. Parker. Parker didn’t live at Jacobs’ home but instead boarded with the Hartman family, who are known for building the original Conway home, still standing on 13th Street in Benton City today.
A large, three-storey hotel was built in the town’s early beginnings, The Benton City Hotel, which was co-owned by both S.J. Harrison as well as L.L. Todd. However, instead of it remaining a historical site for modern-day locals and visitors, the hotel unfortunately burned down to the ground in 1926. In its place is the present-day NRG Resources building.
In spring of 1945, a petition was made to incorporate Benton City as an official town of Washington State, within Benton County. More than 60 qualified electors voted and signed the petition, making the town of Benton City officially incorporated on July 2, 1945 as a registered city, with O.M. Hanson as the first mayor. His council members were Donald St. Marie, Archie Borden, Harry Troupe, L.H. Kendall, and T.O. Montgomery. Later in the year, in December, the first budget of $1,418 USD was adopted.
After Benton City became an official town, the Sunnyside Canal was extended in 1947, bringing more water to the area to help the land and vegetation grow and develop.