Norwood

Benoit was on U.S. Highway 67 and the Santa Fe Railroad twelve miles northeast of Ballinger in east central Runnels County. The community was started in 1886 and named Norwood, but with the establishment of a local post office in 1906 it was renamed for J. Benoit, an early settler. W. F. Hill opened the first store in 1912 and was the last postmaster. At its peak Benoit had two stores, a gin, a blacksmith shop, and a one-room schoolhouse. The population was 100 in 1940, but by 1950 the settlement had disappeared. By 2000 the settlement had reappeared in the census, reporting a population of twenty-two.