Benvanue

Benvanue was on the banks of Bailey Creek near the Jefferson county line in northeastern Clay County. The settlement began at a ferry in 1869, and the community became a focal point for nearby settlers. Within the next few years a semiweekly newspaper, a number of businesses, a school, and a stage line connecting Benvanue with Henrietta, seventeen miles to the south, served the fifty residents. In 1876 postal service to the community began. By the late 1890s the population of the town was estimated to be 100. Just after the turn of the twentieth century officials of the Texas and Oklahoma Railroad decided to bypass Benvanue and run the rail line through Byers, three miles to the west. Once the decision was announced, residents and businesses abandoned Benvanue and moved to Byers. Postal service to Benvanue was transferred to Byers in 1904. By 1910 there were few buildings and fewer residents in Benvanue. The school building remained standing until the 1940s, but by 1984 no trace of the community remained on county maps.