Benton, PA

Benton is a Columbia County borough surrounded by Benton Township, with Fishing Creek running through its eastern side toward the Susquehanna River. Two families settled the area in 1792, and a schoolhouse was operating by 1799. Pennsylvania Route 487 now runs through the borough, connecting north toward Ricketts Glen State Park and south toward Bloomsburg. The creek, the road, and the surrounding forested hills give Benton the shape of a small northern Columbia County center.

Tanning and lumber industries began growing north of the borough around 1860, and Benton had about fifty houses by 1868. The borough incorporated in 1894, but a major fire destroyed it in 1910 and forced a broad rebuilding. That sequence still gives the place a clear historical rhythm: early families and schools, forest industries along Fishing Creek, a formal borough government, and a community rebuilt after fire. Benton Area School District serves the area, while the creek continues to run through the map that made the borough possible.