Benton, AL

Benton grew from Maull's Landing, the Alabama River settlement James Maull laid out in 1832. Incorporated in 1834 and renamed for Thomas Hart Benton, it became a steamboat trading stop before railroads redirected freight; the town reincorporated in 1964. U.S. 80 and the M&B Railroad now pass along its southern edge, while the river bounds the northeast. Students attend Lowndes County schools, and Benton lies within the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail corridor. The town's present map still places water, roads, rail, and farm ground in the same frame that once made the landing a transport center.