Benton County, Arkansas: History
Prior to white settlement of the county, the region was used by roving bands of Osage and Delaware who used the area for seasonal hunting grounds. Initial white settlement on Benton County took place around Maysville around 1830, followed by areas around Garfield, Cross Hollow, and Centerton. Settlers were predominantly from Tennessee, followed by Southern Piedmont states. Benton County was created from neighboring Washington County by the Arkansas General Assembly on September 30, 1836. Created shortly after statehood, it was named for Thomas Hart Benton, a U.S. Senator from Missouri influential in Arkansas's statehood.
Following establishment, a citizen committee was established to select the county seat. It decided to create Bentonville, with a town square and 136 lots around it, in 1837. The first building serving as courthouse was the home of George P. Wallace, the first county judge, for the 1837 court term. By the following year, a log structure on the north side of the Bentonville square was complete and served as the first permanent courthouse. In 1841, a contractor was building a brick courthouse in the middle of the Bentonville square. It was burned by Union troops during the Civil War in 1862. Court resumed after the war in a rented office for a few months until a new two-story frame building was constructed east of the county jail. In 1870, the search for a more permanent home for county government began, and a new structure was finished after significant struggle and controversy, in 1874. This building was replaced by the present-day Benton County Courthouse in 1928.
On May 26, 2024, Benton County experienced the largest tornado in Arkansas history, an EF3 with a width of 1.8 miles (2.9 km). This also initiated the first ever Arkansas appearance of FEMA for emergency disaster relief.