The History of Benton: Growth, Promotion and Demotion (1830 – 1860)

As Hannah's Landing grew from tiny riverside hamlet to fledgling village another settlement some thirty miles to the north was taking shape. The village of Manchester was just starting to breath. In the fullness of time Manchester would become Yazoo City and Hannah's Landing would become Benton. But in those early years the two were miles apart. Hannah's Landing was booming. A dozen boats docked a day along the mudflats of the Big Black River. The boats would unload their precious cargo of nails, cloth, sugar, coffee, flour, mill and finished tools and load up on bales of cotton that weighed up to twenty five to fifty pounds a bale.

The river front soon became crowed with saloons and public houses. Corn Whiskey and Moonshine flowed like the river. The men who worked on the river drank like horses and parted with there money as soon as it greased the palm of their hands. This money flowed from the hands of the river workers into the greedy hands of the barkeepers and from there into Hannah's Landing.

As Hannah's Landing grew, so too did the merchant class. Many of the merchants settled south of main street. Town Creek was the first settled area outside main street. William's Street so named after the first mayor of Benton William Joseph Potter soon followed and then finally Croft Street named after the down's first doctor Matthew Martin Croft. Fine cottages sprung up like toadstools after an fine spring rain. And soon Benton could boast a population of fifteen hundred people all nestled within that bend of the Big Black.

In 1839 Hannah's Landing was named county seat and the name was changed by popular vote from Hannah's Landing to Benton. Benton soon swelled in size, peeking at twenty five hundred souls. As the town swelled in size so too did the number of cottages and business. The streets that up to this point had been dirt were replaced with gravel. A cable had been laid that connected Benton with Jackson that had just been named the state capital. The down could also boost two news papers, the Benton Federal Papers and the Benton Herald. The Benton Federal has vanished into the mist of time but the Benton Herald still remains as Benton's leading news paper.

Three private banks also popped up. And finally a simple wooden building was constructed in the center of the town. The simple wooden building would house the towns post office. That area in the center of the town would quickly become the main business district. The town seemed to be thriving but then something happen. By 1840 the town of Manchester had a bustling population of twelve hundred souls both white and black. Then in 1841 to honor its connection to the Yazoo River the town changed its name from Manchester to Yazoo City and finally seven years later in 1849 because of its booming size, the population had swelled to four thousand thus eclipsing Benton as the largest settlement and its more convenience of a more central location in Yazoo County, the Mississippi legislature transferred the county seat to Yazoo City.

The moving of the county seat from Benton to Yazoo City reversed the fortunes of the town. The population started to slip away and trade was siphon from Benton to Yazoo City. As the trade decreased a number of business started to fail. While a few riverboats started to dock in Benton, the lions share switched to Yazoo City. And the population of Benton shrunk from twenty five hundred to a thousand and the town threaten to become a ghost town. But then something happen that turned the town around. A dozen small farms started to form in the outlaying area.

These farms required finished goods to thrive. And since Yazoo City was too far away, many of the farmers turned to the local merchants of Benton to provided the goods they needed. As the towns blacksmith returned, another doctor started to practice in Benton, replacing the old one who had moved away. As time went on, the rich bottom lands around Benton was cleared away, small levee's around five or six foot high were built around the newly cleared fields to hold back the yearly overflow from the Big Black River.

As more and more land was reclaimed from the swamp, cotton started to be grown and that cotton was sent to Benton to be bailed. A cotton compress was build in the dwelling downtown area. The building of the compress breathed new life into town. An Cotton Gin was soon build to go along with the compress. And soon an Oil Mill was also built to help crush the seeds that was removed from the cotton during the ginning process.

And so new breath was breathed into the dying hamlet. And so while neighboring Yazoo City group by leaps and bounds, Benton struggled on. And year by year more people moved into the tiny hamlet and as one season melted in another, new cottages were built, old cottages were torn down. And new business opened to replace those who had closed down.

And finally a collection of selectmen decided that the town needed new streets. And so the whole of downtown was paved in bricks. Croft, Town Creek and William Street were soon paved too. And finally as if to say the town had arrived, small school was established. It seemed Benton was here to say. But as the town struggled to stay afloat, other events beyond Benton were turning. Events that would soon force apart father and son, and turn brother upon brother, son upon father and daughter upon mother. As the tiny town struggled to stay afloat, little did the people of this tiny little town know that in the coming years the soul of the nation would be tested. And that the fields and meadows around the town would become a battlefield.

And how could the poor farmer, the poor field hand, the simple merchant, the shrewd eyed river gambler and the barely literate teachers who taught in one room school houses made of logs and scrap pieces of wood know about the gathering storm that was hanging above their heads? That in far away Washington, men in coats and ties were debating issues that would have a profound effect on them. How could these salt of the earth people know that soon their nation would be divided between North and South, between slave and free states? That in four years time the mostly agricultural south would be pitted against the industrial might of the north? This I can not say. But I often wander.