Bryan Co., OK; Town of Bennington - History --------------------------------- Submitted by the Bryan County Heritage Library Located in Calera, OK Written by Mrs. Charles Jones Typed for the archives by Trudy Marlow --------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied for personal use only. ---------------------------------------------------- BENNINGTON The town of Bennington derived its name from historic old Bennington Mission, also called in earlier times, Bennington Mission Station. According to all available sources, Bennington Mission was the outgrowth of the original Mount Pleasant Mission which was located a few miles to the north of the present location, near Boggy Creek. Since that location was considered very unhealthy, changes were made to move the Mission more directly in the center of the Presbytery field where the climatic conditions were healthier for those living in this part of the Choctaw Nation. Mt. Pleasant Mission was built around 1853 by Reverend A. G. Lansing who left the Mission in 1855. Mt. Pleasant was then occupied by the Reverend Charles C. Copeland and Mrs. Copeland as the guiding missionaries. It was the Reverend Copeland who had been born in Dover, Vermont, near Bennington, Vermont, who gave the name Bennington to the Mount Pleasant Mission. The Bennington Mission was located at what is now called Old Church, and was founded under the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church and operated through the American board of Foreign Missions. The Mission school was discontinued during the Civil War; mission activities continued, however, when William James Beard Lloyd was given his Presbytery license to preach and went to the call in the Indian field in November of 1890. Reverend Lloyd and his family moved to this part of the country in tow mule-drawn wagons and upon arrival, immediately set to work with great enthusiasm in the field he had chosen. He had to preach through an interpreter in the beginning , but soon he was able to speak the Choctaw language well enough to deliver his sermons and prayers. He also engaged in riding circuit preaching and by doing so was greatly beloved since he was well-known and reached the Choctaws more closely than any other missionary in the Choctaw Nation had done. Reverend Lloyd was also interested in the education field, spending over forty years working in both fields of his interest. Bennington's post office was established on August 7, 1873 with the beloved William James Beard Lloyd as the first postmaster. It did not operate during a period of October 10, 1878 to August 14, 1884. Bennington is located on the Frisco Railroad and U.S. Highway 70. When the Frisco came into Oklahoma in 1902, then the Indian Territory, the town of Bennington moved two miles south of its earlier location to meet the railroad location. In 1880 or 1881 John McDowell and a man named Brown from Honey Grove, Texas, established what was known as the Red Store at the site referred to as Old Bennington. Other stores were established, and a settlement grew at that site. At one time there were four stores, a hotel, a gin, a grist mill, nine or ten residences and a population of forty-five or fifty people. Later there was a building used as a school and a church, although most of the people sent their children to the school at Old Church which was established by the Presbyterian Church, but later the teachers were jointly paid by the Church and the National Council of the Choctaws. For a long time, school was conducted in the church building, until 1895 when a school building separate from the church was built. The settlement around the Red Store, although it had the post office name of Bennington, was ordinarily called the 'Red Store' and the name Bennington applied to the church and school. Brown did not stay long with the Red Store and during the early years John McDowell was the sole proprietor. Some of those who followed McDowell as proprietors of the Red Store were John Bugg, who later operated a store at Bokchito, and his partner Beard, George Risner, Jackie Jones, W.H. Attaway, and R.L. Pace. At first mail was brought out from Caddo once a week, but after the appointment of W.H. Attaway as postmaster in 1893, daily mail service began. Bennington became a distributing office for Oberlin, Mayhew, and Jackson. The supplies for the store were usually obtained from Honey Grove, although in 1896, traveling salesmen began to make the territory and goods were then routed through Caddo. The Red Store was something more that a retail general store. It was a trading center for the whole community. Instruments of barter were venison, hams, hides, pelts, pork and cotton. The storekeeper bought everything the Indians bought in to sell and stored it until had had a convenient load for market. An Indian, for example, would rarely bring enough cotton for a full bale so the merchant would store the small batches until he had enough pounds. Before the gin was built at Old Town, cotton would be hauled to honey Grove and Ragsdale, Texas or to Caddo for ginning and marketing. The usual prices paid by merchant for a frying chicken was ten cents and for summer eggs, three to five cents a dozen. In 1884, a new building was finished at Old Church which was two stories high and made of lumber. The previous buildings had been of logs. A Masonic Lodge, No. 19, received its charter this same year and had meetings in the second story of the church building. Wm. J.B. Lloyd was the first master of the Lodge. Later this Lodge was moved to the present town of Bennington, and in 1905 a chapter of the Eastern Star was organized. Other fraternal orders have had an existence in Bennington, such as Odd Fellows. Life was not so dull in Old Bennington, as might be imagined. Picnics were frequent occurrences in summer when people from the surrounding country and from other settlements came in and enjoyed themselves. In 1900, Bennington had an Indian ball team that was in demand for entertaining in other towns as well as at Bennington picnics. At some of these picnics old fashioned tournaments ere held. Riders would mount themselves on horses and attempt to run a wooden lance through rings set on a post while spurring their horses to full speed. Newspaper articles for 1900 and 1901 mention that the Indian Police were encamped at Bennington, or that the land surveyors had established a camp. And last, the railroad surveyors came. In 1899 several wagons loaded with wheat made a trip overland to the Reagan mill. And in 1903 several hundred Mississippi Choctaws were camped close to Bennington while waiting for their land allotments. The years from 1899 t o1904 were not dull. The Arkansas and Choctaw Railroad built through the country, but the surveyors missed Bennington by tow full miles. The town moved to the railroad. The Red Store building was moved to the railroad, the stock to Caddo. Others followed suit, either moving their houses and stores bodily or in pieces, or building new ones on the new townsite. The First National Bank of Bennington was authorized to commence business in January, 1902. In the Bennington articles of the Caddo Herald, March 3, 1902, the correspondent makes this observation. "Business and residence lots are being sold right along in the new town. It won't be long until the train whistles are heard." And the same correspondent, in the issue for April 4, 1902 says: "The new town is in sight. Several business houses are being erected and some residences are being commenced. Forgason and Freeney have their store nearly there which they are moving from the old towns site. The Durant Lumber Company office, which was the first new building on the new townsite, burned recently." On Tuesday, July 22, 1902, the people of Bennington gave a farewell picnic at Old Town. Now there is nothing about the site of Old Town to remind the casual passerby that at one time there stood the buildings of a prosperous settlement. The original townsite of Bennington on the railroad as mapped by the government surveyors was approved by the Secretary of the Interior on October 27, 1902. It comprised a tract of 145 acres o both sides of the railroad. The Smith-Halsell Addition was annexed in 1912 to complete the townsite in its present limits. No sooner was the townsite approved than a movement was begun to incorporate the town. This was done early in 1903 with W. A. Holliday as the first mayor. Agitation was begun immediately to make the town as modern as possible and during the next few years permanent business houses were built, concrete sidewalks were laid, school and church buildings were constructed. The first school bonds were voted in 1907 and provided for a $5,000.00 concrete block building on land in the southeast part of the townsite which had been donated by Robert L. Williams. Prior to this the school has been housed in a pine building. Also the McGee Springs Indian School had been conducted in a store building gave a great deal of trouble because of its poor foundation and was condemned. A contract for the present school in the north section of the town was awarded in 1917 and in spite of the opposition to moving the school from the old site, was completed after an election held in October decided that the majority of the people favored the new site. Other improvements of a public nature were a waterworks system for which bonds were voted in 1911 and 1912, the Bennington Ice, Light and Power Company, which was given a franchise in 1915, and a telephone exchange. Bennington has had four churches, at least two of which have been in existence since the establishment of the town in its present location. The Presbyterians organized under leadership of W.J.B. Lloyd, many members of the old church north of town transferring their memberships to the new church. The sixteen members built the present building in 1903. The Baptists organized, then the Methodists, and several years later, the Christians. All of these still have buildings in existence, and have church members who are active in the community. Several disastrous fires have visited Bennington. The first occurred in 1906 when it was estimated that the loss was $18,000.00. Two of the worst were in 1912 and 1913 while the waterworks were being constructed. The most outstanding disaster to this community occurred in May of 1916 when a devastating tornado practically demolished the entire town at this time. Bennington was a good market town for cotton, timber, and farm products. The town had several gins, lumber yards, banks, drug stores, hotels and many other good stores and places of business. In 1907, the population was 427; in 1910 the population was 513; in 1920 it was 951; and in 1930, the population was 492. In 1953 Bennington was nationally recognized when the four Bennington heroes killed in the Korean conflict came home in flag- draped caskets. Those heroes were: Corporal George O. Hiser, son of John W. Hisers; Corp. Charles L. Minyard, son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Minyard; Corp. Loy Allen Philpot, son of Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Philpot; and PFC Carl Dill, son of Mrs. Bertha Dill. Mrs. D. E. McCarver had four sons in service in World War II action. Homer was killed in France on July 12, 1944, and Elmer was critically wounded in the South Pacific, recovered, but later was killed in an accident. Bennington lives were lost during the Vietnam conflict, also. PFC Specialist Don Ray McIntire, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lester McIntire, and Arthur Lauderdale, son of Mr. and Mrs. Leon Lauderdale gave their lives in Vietnam. In 1890, Wilson N. Jones, a resident of Cade, near Bennington, was elected Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation. The administration of Jones was memorable for the radical changes made in the Choctaw system of education, including the establishment of three new academies. A 1956 graduate of Bennington High School, Wes Watkins, was elected to the United States Congress during the 1976 campaign, and is now serving the Third District as a very capable representative. So Bennington has done her share and more in many ways, including patriotism and statesmanship. -------------------------------------------------- Written by Mrs. Charles Jones