Benton, Newfoundland and Labrador


Benton is a settlement in Newfoundland and Labrador.

General information

Benton pond is known for fishing, swimming, provided as water in the houses and in the winter, snowmobiling, and travelling to cabins. Benton has a playground, store, church, fire department, post office, and a small library dedicated to Ava Humby who died. There is an old railway track bed now used as an ATV trail or walking trail for families to enjoy, pick berries, fish. Kids that live in Benton travel on bus to school in Gander that's about 15 minutes away from there. Also families living in Benton travel to Gander to get food, clothes and other things. It is about 3 hours away from St. John's and about 1 hour and 15 minutes from Grand Falls.

History

When the railway was constructed in the late 1800s, Benton became a sawmill town. The railroad also made it possible for a handful of mines and quarries able to operate in Central Newfoundland. This included a granite quarry at Benton called Hall's Quarry.
The Newfoundland Railway was constructed between 1881 and 1897. The track arrived in Benton at the end of the 1892 construction season. The first inhabitants of Benton were Railway Section crews. Closely followed by shop keepers, quarry men, loggers and sawmill operators. Issac Penney arrived in Benton in the 1920s and was a section foreman for the railway. Jim Wicks brought his family to Benton in 1939 and was a cook in the logging camps and later ran a general store.