31 topographic sheets cover 25 settlements here, and 7 properties are on the National Register of Historic Places.
7 National Register listings published here · the county-history sources name 3 people · people the book names include S. M. Smith (Parish Grove Township, 1906) (machine-read).
Sources: the county history on the Internet Archive · the National Register database, National Park Service
Every property in this county listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with the year it was listed and the federal nomination document.
| Photograph | Property | Type | Listed | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Benton County Courthouse | building | 2008 | 08000741 |
 | Fowler Theatre | building | 2004 | 04001315 |
 | Fraser & Isham Law Office | building | 2000 | 00001135 |
 | David S. Heath House | building | 1999 | 99001153 |
| Oxford Community Mausoleum | building | 2020 | 100005507 | |
| Oxford Town Square Historic District | district | 2026 | 100012494 | |
 | Presbyterian Church Building | building | 1984 | 84000997 |
The NOAA Storm Events Database holds 217 reports for this county, causing no deaths, 3 injuries and about $251,652,000 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.
| Kind of event | Reports |
|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 110 |
| Hail | 59 |
| Tornado | 22 |
| Flash Flood | 14 |
| Flood | 7 |
| Heavy Rain | 3 |
| Funnel Cloud | 2 |
The most serious of them, by death, then injury, then recorded damage. The accounts are quoted exactly as the forecast office filed them.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 1956 | Tornado (F2) | not stated | 3 hurt, $250,000 | no account filed |
| April 1974 | Tornado (F4) | not stated | $250,000,000 | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Boswell | $500,000 | Hail as large as softballs produced catastrophic damage to crops from near Boswell east and southeast to the Warren County line south of Templeton. An estimated 5,000 acres of corn crop was destroyed. The hail also caused significant roof damage to many houses. |
| January 2008 | Flash Flood | Raub | $250,000 | Streams and creeks overflowed and flooded many roads throughout the county with hundreds of reports of high water and flooding. Two roads washed away due to flooding. Boswell measured 2.86 inches of rainfall. |
| August 1991 | Tornado (F2) | not stated | $250,000 | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boswell | $100,000 | Severe winds of 60 mph to 75 mph developed just north of Boswell and continued east and southeast to the Warren County line south of Oxford. There were two areas of more intense wind damage found along Highway 352 between Boswell and Oxford. The first area of intense damage was near Chase where a large hardwood tree was snapped at the base with other trees and large tree limbs blown down in a few mile wide area around Chase. The most intense damage in this area was consistent with winds of 90 to 100 mph. The second area of intense damage was located farther east on Highway 352 just west of Oxford. A well built barn was partially destroyed in this location with debris from the barn spread several hundred yards down stream. Several trees were blown down in the area with some minor roof damage to a nearby home. The most intense damage was consistent with winds of 90 to 100 mph. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Talbot | $75,000 | A tool shed and a grain bin were blown down. Shingles were blown off of several houses. |
| November 2013 | Tornado (EF1) | Templeton | $50,000 | The tornado heavily damaged an outbuilding with several wood projectiles from the building stuck into a nearby garage roof. Debris from the outbuilding was lofted at least three miles downstream. Another outbuilding was heavily damaged and multiple trees were blown down or snapped. Maximum winds were estimated to be 95 mph. The tornado continued into White County (NWS Northern Indiana). |
| September 1988 | Tornado (F1) | not stated | $25,000 | no account filed |
| May 1975 | Tornado (F0) | not stated | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 1975 | Tornado (F0) | not stated | $25,000 | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Earl Park | $20,000 | no account filed |
| April 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Earl Park | $15,000 | Strong winds caused power lines and a grain bin to be blown over. In addition, building damage was reported in town including the collapse of a retirement home roof. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Talbot | $10,000 | An 80 foot section of a metal roof was blown off of a hog farm. |
| July 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Countywide | $10,000 | no account filed |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fowler | $5,000 | The siding on a home was damaged by strong winds. |
| May 2012 | Flash Flood | Raub | $5,000 | The road was completely washed out near the intersection of 900N and 1100W near the state-line. Water was reported up to the hood of a car. On Route 71, water was completely covering the intersection. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boswell | $5,000 | Numerous trees and power lines were blown down across southern Benton County. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Atkinson | $5,000 | A metal shed was damaged. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Templeton | $5,000 | Several utility poles were blown down. |
| August 2008 | Tornado (EF0) | Chase | $5,000 | A brief tornado touched near 7651S and 125W. A tool shed was destroyed and crop damage indicated swirling winds. |
| May 1993 | Tornado (F0) | Otterbein | $5,000 | A small tornado downed utility poles and power lines. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Earl Park | $3,000 | Three utility poles snapped off at the ground. Power lines blown down. One tree split down the middle and a second tree blown down. |
| June 1954 | Tornado (F2) | not stated | $2,500 | no account filed |
| August 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boswell | $2,000 | Utility poles were blown down at the Benton County Fairgrounds. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Otterbein | $1,000 | Trees and power lines were blown down. |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Otterbein | $1,000 | Two power poles and a large tree limb were blown down across a road. |
| October 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Raub | $1,000 | A tree and power lines were blown down. |
| August 2001 | Hail | Countywide | $1,000 | A slow moving thunderstorm moved from east central Illinois into Benton county during the afternoon of August 18th. This thunderstorm produced hail to the size of grapefruit 3 miles north of Otterbein, where several windows and a roof of a house were damaged. Hail to the size of tennis balls flattened about 15,000 acres of corn and soybeans north of Oxford. |
| March 1976 | Tornado (F0) | not stated | $250 | no account filed |
| April 1975 | Tornado (F0) | not stated | $250 | no account filed |
| April 2026 | Heavy Rain | Templeton | - | A personal weather station recorded 2.4 inches of storm total rainfall east of Oxford through 7:15 PM EST, 2.36 of which fell between 6:00 and 7:15 PM. |
| February 2026 | Hail | Oxford | - | Several photos of quarter size hail were shared on social media. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Freeland Park | - | A report of was received of tree and crop damage near Earl Park. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dunnington | - | Thunderstorm outflow produced a measured wind gust to 70 mph on the leading edge of a dust storm. A photo showed significantly reduced visibility due to blowing dust. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Atkinson | - | A wind gust to 75 mph was measured at the Benton Central High School. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fowler | - | Thunderstorm outflow winds on the leading edge of a dust storm blew down numerous trees in and around Fowler. Three houses were damaged by trees, one seriously. Damage to roofs and windows was also reported, along with 15 utility poles snapped. A DOT webcam showed near zero visibility on Route 41 west of Fowler. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ambia | - | Thunderstorm outflow produced a measured wind gust to 65 mph on the leading edge of a dust storm which reduced visibility to near zero in Ambia. |
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wadena | - | A semi truck tipped over on IN-55 near 600N Road north of Fowler. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oxford | - | Tree limbs and power lines were blown down in and around Oxford. |
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boswell | - | Metal roofing panels were peeled from a farm outbuilding at the Benton County Fairgrounds. |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fowler | - | Shingles were blown off a portion of a roof on a house in the 110 block of East Main Street. |
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Swanington | - | A tree snapped and fell onto a car near Fowler. |
| February 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fowler | - | Roof damage was reported to outbuildings. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fowler | - | Tree limbs 4 to 8 inches in diameter were blown down throughout Fowler. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Earl Park | - | A highway sign was blown down near Route 41 and Route 52. |
| March 2023 | Tornado (EF2) | Oxford | - | The tornado touched down northwest of Oxford near the intersection of S County Road 200 E and E County Road 500 S. It tracked northeast for over 10 miles before crossing into southwest White County at E County Road 100 S. It lifted just east of South County Road 850 W at S US Hwy 231 in rural White County. The storm primarily downed trees and damaged farm outbuildings. However, it also caused damage to a few homes. The tornado is believed to have reached EF-2 intensity with wind speeds near 115 mph after crossing S County Road 875 E where large portions of a roof and some siding were torn off of a home. |
| March 2023 | Tornado (EF2) | Swanington | - | This tornado touched down near the intersection of E County Road 200 S and S Adeway Rd south of Fowler. The tornado tracked to the northeast for nearly 12 miles. Along the way, it damaged a few homes and multiple wind turbines. The tornado reached its maximum intensity just east of Fowler where it snapped the base of a wind turbine about halfway up and threw the blades of wind turbines as far as 600 yards to the northeast. Wind speeds during this time are estimated to be around 120 mph. The storm also downed trees and power poles. It lifted near N County Road 800 E and E County Road 600 N in northeast Benton County. |
| March 2023 | Tornado (EF1) | Wadena | - | The tornado dropped south of Goodland in rural Benton County south of E County Road 800 N east of N County Road 200 E. The storm tracked northeast and crossed into Jasper County at E County Road 900 N southwest of Remington. It lifted east of town north of W US Hwy 24 just west of N County Road 1200 W. Damage mostly consisted of snapped power poles, downed trees, and damage to small farm outbuildings. |
| August 2023 | Flood | Chase | - | Video shared on social media showed a few inches of water over Route 352 just east of Chase and Boswell. |
| March 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Otterbein | - | A wind gust to 59 mph was measured. |
| August 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Boswell | - | A tree was reported on power lines near County Roads 400 W and 700 S. |
| June 2021 | Funnel Cloud | Earl Park | - | A funnel cloud was reported over Earl Park. |
| October 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Otterbein | - | Several reports of large tree limbs blown down were received from Otterbein. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oxford | - | A tree was blown down in Oxford along State Road 352 near State Road 55. |
| June 2020 | Heavy Rain | Fowler | - | Rainfall of 7.01 inches was measured in 21 hours. Approximately 5.5 inches of rain fell between 330 pm and 7 pm. |
| June 2020 | Heavy Rain | Earl Park | - | Rainfall of 6.26 inches was measured in 21 hours. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Atkinson | - | A grain bin was blown over and then blown several yards. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Fowler | - | Tree damage was reported in Fowler. |
| May 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oxford | - | Numerous trees were blown down. |
The Survey's mineral resources record lists 1 working inside this county. It still produces. Each settlement page carries the workings within five miles of it.
| Commodity | Workings |
|---|---|
| Stone | 1 |
The least common of them first, because a county's hundredth gravel pit says nothing its first ten did not.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benton County Highway Dept. | Stone | Producer |
Progress of Education in Benton County, Indiana : with an Explanation of the Indiana School System and the Duties of School Officers, Patrons and Pupils devotes a chapter to each township: its boundaries and streams, who settled it and when, the mills, the schools and the churches. All 7 are reproduced here in full. Each row shows the township's own shape and where it lies in the county, drawn from the Census Bureau's boundary. Which settlements belong to which township is computed from that same boundary, not taken from the book.
| Shape and position in the county | Township | Settlements in it | Length | Sections |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Center Township | Atkinson, Barce, Fowler, Swanington | 1,723 words | 1 | |
| Grant Township | Boswell, Chase | 1,926 words | 2 | |
| Hickory Grove Township | Ambia, Dunn, Handy, Talbot | 12,731 words | 8 | |
| Oak Grove Township | Fargo, Oxford | 3,316 words | 1 | |
| Parish Grove Township | Dunnington, Free, Freeland Park | 3,143 words | 3 | |
| Union Township | Lochiel, Wadena | 3,379 words | 1 | |
| York Township | Raub, Sheff, Yeagers Curve | 1,645 words | 0 |
One book written about this county, cut here where the book itself is cut, at its printed chapters: 4 chapters in all. Every chapter is public domain, machine-read from the scan and reproduced complete. A chapter already given under one of the county's towns is not repeated in this list.
| Chapter | Length |
|---|---|
| Chapter 6: Trustees and School Boards | 2,799 words |
| Chapter 7: The County Surerixtendent Axd County Board of Education | 3,967 words |
| Tub Teacher^ Superintendent and Principal | 2,199 words |
| The Patron | 4,101 words |
Everyone Progress of Education in Benton County, Indiana : with an Explanation of the Indiana School System and the Duties of School Officers, Patrons and Pupils stops to write about, with the section that describes them. Among them are the men who founded the place and governed the Territory. Each name opens the passage itself, in the words of 1906.
Named settlements recorded in the Geographic Names Information System, each with the topographic sheets covering it. Villages, hamlets and abandoned places alike. Each is shown with the nearest named watercourse or landform and the survey quadrangle it falls on.
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