BENTON COUNTY

            This county was named in honor of Thomas H. Benton, a Missouri senator. The surface of the county many be described by saying, that it is one grant continuous prairie, being an extension of the grand Illinois prairie. The soil is exceedingly fertile. Many parts were originally very wet, but a system of drainage ahs been adopted which will ultimately result in bringing nearly all the surface into cultivation. Pine creek is the only stream worthy of mention. It runs southerly, and empties its waters into the Wabash river. The northern portion of the county is watered by tributaries of the Iroquois river. Stock raising is one of the principal industries of the county. The county is excellently adapted to grazing, and some of the finest droves of cattle produced in the west are annually shipped from this county to the eastern markets.

            Oxford, formerly the county seat, is situated in the southeastern part of the county, and on a high prominence overlooking the surrounding country. Although not a very large town, it is rapidly developing, and will soon become an important commercial center. Its schools are well provided with suitable buildings and efficient teachers, and are in a state of prosperity. The schools of the county, for the most part, are equal to the average. Oxford has good railroad outlets, being situated on the LaFayette, Muncie and Bloomington railroad, and is within two miles of the junction of this road with the C.L. & C. railroad, for Chicago and Cincinnati.

            Fowler, the present county seat, was first laid out in February, 1872, by Moses Fowler and Adams Earl, Esqrs., of LaFayette. Originally covering a plat one-half mile square, it has since been increased to one mile square. It is situated exactly in the center of the county, and on the Cincinnati, LaFayette and Chicago railroad, or what is popularly called the Kankakee Route. The county seat was removed from Oxford and located here in 1874, after a bitter legal litigation with the former place.

            The first court was held in December, 1874, in the new and elegant court house, mainly built by private means and enterprise. The town is improving rapidly, and already possesses a number of prominent business firms, a bank doing a thriving business, a fine hotel, a newspaper office, a large and commodious graded school building, and two church edifices.

            Earl Park, located northwest of Fowler, on the same road, in another fast growing town. This town was laid out by Adams, Earl and A.D. Raub, Esqrs., and bids fair to take rank with the foremost towns of this section of the State. The streets are beautifully laid out and graded; they are eighty feet wide, and have a row of fine shade trees bordering on each side, and through the center, a feature rarely met with in the west, and which will ultimately render these streets beautiful and pleasant beyond description.

Source: An Illustrated History of the State of Indiana by Richard S. Peale & Co., 1875.