Benjamin

Benjamin, county seat and first town organized in Knox County, is located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 82 and State Highway 6, eighty-three miles southwest of Wichita Falls. Hilory H. Bedford, president and controlling stockholder in the Wichita and Brazos Stock Company, founded the town in 1885 and named it for his son Benjamin, who had been killed by lightning. To encourage settlement in the region, Bedford gave each of his twelve fellow stockholders a fifty-acre tract of land and set aside forty additional acres for a town square. He was instrumental in the organization of Knox County in 1886, with Benjamin as the county seat. The town received its first mail service in 1884; Bedford was postmaster. In 1886 the Benjamin school was organized with R. P. Dimmitt, Mrs. Oliver, and Mrs. M. S. Berry as first teachers. Other early residents included W. P. Lane, who opened a saddle shop in 1885, Tom Isbell, the first sheriff of Knox County, and Dr. G. H. Beavers.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.