Bennett House

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.

From the record

One of 20 National Register listings published here for Saline County · listed in 2020 · category: Building.

Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. 503 First St., Benton, 72015
When was it listed? January 2020
Category. building
Township. Bauxite township
National Register reference number. 100004906 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.

Fires near this property

121 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 121 fires within 5 miles of Bennett House between 1997 and 2020, burning about 752 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 31 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	37
Debris and open burning	35
Arson/incendiarism	31
Natural	5
Smoking	5
Equipment and vehicle use	3
Misuse of fire by a minor	3
Railroad operations and maintenance	2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
5 September 2005	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	8.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
29 September 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	7.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
26 September 2015	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	2.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
25 September 2015	Smoking	1.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
25 September 2015	Misuse of fire by a minor	20 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
23 September 2005	Arson/incendiarism	1.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
22 September 2015	Smoking	5.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named
20 September 2000	Arson/incendiarism	1.0 acres	Arkansas Forestry Commission	not named

Every fire recorded in Saline County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 21 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 21 workings within 5 miles of Bennett House: 11 unknowns, 4 past producers, 3 producers, 2 prospects. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Aluminum, Clay, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Nickel. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Ben J.Field	Quartz	Unknown
C.E. Lowry, Trustee, Properties	Nickel, Cobalt	Prospect	Underground
Gingles Deposit	Bentonite	Unknown
Hurricane Creek Deposit	Niobium (Columbium)	Occurrence
Republic Mining & Mgf. Co.	Iron	Unknown
Saline County	Aluminum, Iron, Silica, Titanium, Water, Free	Prospect	1887
Belvedere S & G Co. Pit and Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Hill Sand and Gravel, Inc.	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Hicks and Rodenbaugh Clay Banks	Clay	Unknown
Unknown	Clay	Unknown

Every working recorded in Saline County

Storms near this property

60 of 134 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Benton, the town this property stands in, in 134 storm reports between 1993 and 2024: 62 thunderstorm wind, 48 hail, 11 flash flood, 4 tornado. The reports record 11 deaths and 51 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
March 1997	Tornado (F4)	Benton	10 killed, 40 hurt, $25,000,000	The thunderstorm that produced the tornado across Clark and Hot Spring County earlier spawned another tornado in Saline County. The tornado touched down 5 miles southeast of Benton and traveled northeastward, damaging a number of homes and downing numerous trees and power lines. As the tornado approached Shannon Hills, the tornado expanded to 0.8 mile wide. Dozens of homes were either damaged or destroyed in the area around the Shannon Hills, Vimy Ridge and Sardis communities. 10 people were killed, with most victims inside their homes when the storm hit.The tornado exhibited characteristics of F2 to F3 strength prior to moving into the Shannon Hills area. After that, the tornado reached F4 intensity as it moved across the Shannon Hills area and eventually into Pulaski County.
August 1998	Lightning	Benton	1 killed	no account filed
February 2000	Tornado (F1)	Benton	9 hurt	A weak tornado was spawned in Saline County about 3.6 miles west-northwest of Benton. The tornado moved east into the Benton area, damaging homes and businesses. There were 66 homes with minor damage, 18 homes with major damage and 10 commercial buildings damaged. There were 9 injuries reported, with the injured treated and released from the hospital. The tornado also downed trees and power lines before dissipating 1.2 miles southwest of Bryant.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	2 hurt	no account filed
April 1996	Lightning	Benton	$300,000	no account filed
April 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$75,000	Thunderstorm winds blew down trees and power lines.
April 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$50,000	A tree was blown down on a house due to the strong thunderstorm winds.
July 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$50,000	Thunderstorm winds damaged several roofs.
July 1996	Lightning	Benton	$50,000	no account filed
June 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$40,000	Numerous trees were blown down. One of the trees landed on a car.
April 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$40,000	A large tree fell on a house in the Overview Subdivision.
August 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$25,000	Trees and power lines were blown down.
August 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$10,000	A power pole was blown over onto parked cars on Military Road in Benton.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$10,000	A billboard was damaged on I-30 in Benton.
September 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$10,000	Trees were blown down.
April 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$10,000	A tree fell on a mobile home.
May 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$5,000	Trees were blown down and resulting in some power outages as the falling trees damaged power lines.
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$5,000	Large tree limbs were thrown by the wind. Some siding was removed from a garage.
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$5,000	A few trees were blown down. One of the trees landed on a house.
April 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$5,000	Trees were blown down in Benton.
August 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$5,000	A few large trees were blown down. Mailboxes were blown over.
July 1994	Hail	Benton	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds blew down several trees.
July 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds blew down several trees.
November 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds damaged a camping trailer.
April 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds downed some trees.
May 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$5,000	Some trees and power lines were knocked down.
June 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds downed some power lines.
June 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$5,000	Some trees were blown down.
August 1993	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds downed some trees.
July 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$2,000	A tree and large limbs were blown down, blocking a road.
September 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$1,000	Some shingles were blown off a roof.
April 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	$1,000	Large tree limbs were blown down.
May 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	-	Several trees were blown down blocking all lines of AR-Highway 5 and AR-Highway 35 in Benton.
April 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	-	A large tree and numerous powerlines were downed across Highway 35 southbound in Benton.
July 2024	Heavy Rain	Benton	-	A 24 hour rainfall total of 4.53 inches was measured at Benton.
May 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	-	Trees were down at Benton.
September 2022	Flash Flood	Benton	-	The sheriff's office reported multiple roads underwater across the southern half of Saline county.
May 2021	Flash Flood	Benton	-	ADEM reported that at least 4 homes and 8 cars were impacted by flooding in Saline county. Approximately 15 people have been rescued. Multiple roads were flooded throughout the county as well.
August 2020	Flash Flood	Benton	-	A video showed water flowing over roads in Benton on social media, relayed by broadcast media.
April 2019	Flash Flood	Benton	-	Benton police department reported flooding at the intersection of Highway 35 and Edison Rd.
April 2019	Flash Flood	Benton	-	Water was over Edison Avenue at AR-35 with traffic backing up.
April 2019	Hail	Benton	-	Received a few pictures of ping pong ball sized hail in Benton via Facebook.
July 2016	Flash Flood	Benton	-	There was street flooding along the service road east of the I-30 Sevier St. exit.
June 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	-	One tree was snapped near ground level.
July 2014	Heavy Rain	Benton	-	Rainfall measured 1.80 inches in one hour.
November 2012	Hail	Benton	-	There were numerous reports of hail, ranging from .25 to .75 inch in diameter, in the Benton area. Hail covered the ground in some places.
August 2012	Heavy Rain	Benton	-	Rainfall measured 4.08 inches in 24 hours.
November 2011	Heavy Rain	Benton	-	Benton recorded the wettest November ever. Rainfall of 15.00 inches broke the record of 13.13 inches set in 1988.
March 2011	Hail	Benton	-	Golf ball size hail was reported in downtown Benton.
March 2011	Hail	Benton	-	Penny size hail and winds estimated at 55 mph were reported in the Christy Acres Addition.
April 2008	Flash Flood	Benton	-	Interstate 30 at exit 119 in Benton was flooded.
February 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	-	Sardis Road between Shannon Hills and southwest Little Rock was closed due to limbs and trees blocking the road.
October 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	-	Trees and power lines were reported down along Arkansas Highway 298, Arkansas Highway 5 North, Congo Road and Salem Road.
May 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	-	Several trees were blown down and landed on a house in Benton.
August 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	-	Trees down.
August 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	-	Thunderstorm winds downed a large tree.
May 2003	Tornado (F2)	Benton	-	A strong tornado was spawned mostly within the city limits of Benton. The tornado moved northeast, and heavily damaged buildings at an auto dealership. Minor damage was noted elsewhere in and near town. The tornado dissipated 5.6 miles northeast of town.
May 2003	Flash Flood	Benton	-	Heavy rainfall caused flash flooding to occur in Benton. Several streets were closed due to the high water conditions for a short period of time.
June 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	-	Thunderstorm winds knocked down some trees and large limbs.
March 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Benton	-	Thunderstorm winds caused some roof damage to several buildings in Benton.

Every storm recorded in Saline County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Gan Row Historic District	0.2 miles	1999
Gann Building	0.3 miles	1975
Gann House	0.3 miles	1976
Hyten, Charles "Bullet" Dean, House	0.4 miles	2012
Saline County Courthouse	0.4 miles	1976
J. W. and Ann Lowe Clary House	0.4 miles	1993

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 100004906 in Record Group 79.
Saline County	All 20 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.