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Bennington, Kansas

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Bennington Township. It lies in ZIP code area 67422. It stands on Sand Creek. The Survey maps it on the Bennington quadrangle. 622 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,220 feet above sea level.

Bennington within Ottawa County

Population over time

2 figures

Bennington fell from 672 to 622 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010672
2020622-50 (-7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 14 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

21 since 2009

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 21 fires within 5 miles of Bennington between 2009 and 2020, burning about 933 acres in total. None started naturally. 4 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/undetermined9
Debris and open burning4
Arson/incendiarism4
Equipment and vehicle use2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Smoking1

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

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
20 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreKansas Forest Service937
2 July 2017Equipment and vehicle use8.0 acresOttawa County46
6 May 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreKansas Forest Service31
10 April 2020Smoking70 acresKansas Forest Servicenot named
10 April 2015Debris and open burning65 acresKansas Forest Service481
4 March 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreOttawa County18
26 March 2015Arson/incendiarism35 acresKansas Forest Service380
23 March 2015Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreKansas Forest Service378

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Ottawa County

Storms near this place

60 of 76 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bennington in 76 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 42 hail, 24 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 3 flash flood. The reports record 1 death and 5 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2007Tornado (EF2)Bennington1 killed, 5 hurtThe tornado touched down near the intersection of Granite Rd and 190th Rd approximately 3 miles south of the Ottawa State Fishing Lake. It lifted approximately 11 miles north of it's touchdown point, at Rifle Rd between 200th and 210th Rds. 38 structures were destroyed or damaged; including homes, mobile homes, cabins, outbuildings, and small cottages. A mobile home that was anchored to the ground was totally destroyed by the tornado.
May 1997Tornado (F0)Bennington$80,000no account filed
May 2007Flash FloodBennington$50,000Six to eight inches of water flowing over 170th road near Bennington.
May 2007FloodBennington$50,000Moderate or greater flooding immediate reach of the gage vicinity of Niles with flooding of lowland areas and some county roads.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindBennington$25,000Strong winds moved a mobile home 6 feet off its foundation and did extensive damage.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindBennington$5,000Strong winds blew a tree onto a house damaging the house.
July 1994Thunderstorm WindBennington$5,000no account filed
April 1993HailBennington$5,000no account filed
July 2000LightningBennington$2,000Lightning struck a house igniting a fire that did considerable damage to a laundry room.
April 2025Thunderstorm WindBennington-Public report.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindBennington-This is a personal weather station.
May 2024HailBennington-Quarter size hail on Highway 81 near the Ottawa - Saline County border.
May 2024HailBennington-Ping pong ball size hail south of Bennington near the Saline County line.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindBennington-Tree 8 inches in diameter blown down, tree was about 45 feet tall.
May 2021Flash FloodBennington-Intersection of 170th Rd and Granite Rd flooded.
December 2021Thunderstorm WindBennington-Semi truck blown over at mile marker 165 on US-81.
September 2018Thunderstorm WindBennington-Wind gusts estimated between 60 and 70 MPH. Very heavy rainfall also reported.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindBennington-Tree limbs 4 to 8 inches in diameter and up to 30 feet in length were down and closing Kansas highway 18 south of Bennington.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindBennington-There was brief power loss and small tree limbs down.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindBennington-Tree limbs down on a house. Power flashes were seen.
August 2014Thunderstorm WindBennington-Wind gusts estimated.
June 2013HailBennington-Delayed report...time estimated from radar.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindBennington-Law Enforcement reported a 60 mph wind gust near Bennington, Kansas.
July 2009Funnel CloudBennington-The funnel cloud was spotted a 140th Road and K18 Hwy.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindBennington-The sweet corn was flattened.
May 2007Tornado (EF0)Bennington-Brief touchdown near the Saline/Ottawa County line.
July 2004Flash FloodBennington-Water was reported over highway 93.
July 1999Thunderstorm WindBennington-Three semi tractor trailer rigs were blown off a road.
May 1995Tornado (F0)Bennington-A tornado was spotted by storm chasers in southeast Ottawa county moving east through open fields. No damage was reported.
April 2025HailBennington-no account filed
May 2019HailBennington-no account filed
May 2016HailBennington-no account filed
April 2016HailBennington-no account filed
May 2015HailBennington-no account filed
April 2015HailBennington-no account filed
September 2014HailBennington-no account filed
August 2014HailBennington-no account filed
May 2013HailBennington-no account filed
May 2013HailBennington-no account filed
April 2012HailBennington-no account filed
July 2011HailBennington-no account filed
June 2011HailBennington-no account filed
June 2011HailBennington-no account filed
June 2011HailBennington-no account filed
June 2011HailBennington-no account filed
June 2011HailBennington-no account filed
June 2011HailBennington-no account filed
June 2011HailBennington-no account filed
April 2006HailBennington-no account filed
July 2004Thunderstorm WindBennington-no account filed
May 2004HailBennington-no account filed
July 2004Thunderstorm WindBennington-no account filed
August 2003Thunderstorm WindBennington-no account filed
July 2003HailBennington-no account filed
July 2003HailBennington-no account filed
May 2002HailBennington-no account filed
May 2002HailBennington-no account filed
May 2002HailBennington-no account filed
July 2002Thunderstorm WindBennington-no account filed
July 2002HailBennington-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Ottawa County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Verdi5.5 miles16
Lindsey6.2 miles15
Wells7.8 miles14
Niles8.1 miles16
Minneapolis8.7 miles15
Culver9.7 miles16
Alfmil9.7 miles14
Vine Creek11.2 miles14

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on BenningtonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1952855The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 476467. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

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.

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.