History of Benton: Nova Benton ( 1890 – 1910)
The years leading up to the First World War are considered the golden age of Benton. A steady stream of settlers poured into the region. A new levee meant that the rich bottomlands that bordered the Big Black could finally be cleared away and brought under the plow Another neighborhood was built east of town along the gentle stream called Deer Creek. The soil in that area was very rich and fine and produced a number of gardens. The Nova rich of the town settled along that area and built fine Victorian style homes. The area was christened “The Garden District'' Because of its many fine gardens.
Soon other districts were settled. The newly established merchant classes moved beyond the traditional settlements and into the untouched areas. As Benton moved beyond the old bounds and into the untouched surrounding lands. A new, faster way to connect the outlying neighborhoods with the center business district arose. And so in 1901 the Municipal Street Railway came into being. The railway started with two cars, one open air for use in the hot summer months and one enclosed for the winter months. The City Commissioners were also appointed as Manager T.E. Polockington, Polockington had also served as superintendent of construction during the building of the line.
The lined had at first four and a half miles of rail, it was later expanded to fourteen. The line ran the length of main street, looped down Croft street, then Town Creek and Wilson Street before circling back into main. Then it branched off from main and ran the whole length of The Garden District before branching off again to go down the developing section of town known as Grand.
Three years later another major breakthrough was achieved. A brand new school was built at the corner of main street. The school was a state of the art school. The school was named Benton Main Street School and would house grades fourth through eight and would teach the subjects of Science, Math, History, English and even offered vocational courses.
Later that year the town saw the opening of another school, this one a high school. Benton Agricultural High School at its opening was held as the best equipped public school in Mississippi with a whopping thirty three dollars being spent on the education of each student. A fortune in those days when a house could be brought for seven hundred dollars. Students learned not only the sciences, but also Greek, Latin and the Bible. A world class vocation center was also added.
And again later that year the town saw the opening of its first public library. The library was named Albert Sidney Johnston Memorial Library after the confederate general who commanded southern forces in the Battle of Benton. The library was built across from the newly build Main Street School and the Post Office and a few blocks down from the newly built Episcopal Church
Then in 1908 a statue honoring the memory of the confederate slain and the woman who supported them was unveiled. Three hundred surviving confederate veterans marched down main street. As they marched, the townspeople crowded the sidewalks and cheered and hooted. The parade stopped in front of the statue and the president of the Daughters of the Confederacy surrounded by dozens and dozens other members all bowed to the old fighting men and laid in their hands a bundle of flowers.
The Confederate Monument was then called was located on the triangle grounds in Benton, it stood twenty four foot tall, its base and pedestal were of granite and it was topped with two bronze figures. One of those figures was a Confederate Soldier and the other a woman holding a flag.
And so it seemed that at last Benton had risen fully from the ashes. With two fine new schools, new churches, a busy railroad. A bustling downtown, a thriving bank and neighborhood's filled with fine cottages and houses. The town was thriving. But their two sides to every coin. There was a different Benton. One that was not so thriving and one that was not so well off. A darker, more dangerous side of town that was best avoided.
Two miles west of town was an area called “Greasy Row” because of the number of saloons, barrelhouses, gambling houses, music halls and whore houses that infested the area. Here the men who worked on the railroad, on the river, in the saw mills and at the docks would gather after the working day to spend all their money. Shooting was too common, killing too. But there was something alluring about the area. A special brand of the “The Blues'' was starting to develop in this area.
On nights of the full moon, one could hear the soulful cries of the mostly black performers wailing into the hot and humid air. The narrow, often muddy and smelly streets would be filled with men stumbling back and forth, often too drunk to stand and not drunk enough to go home. The shacks that lined the street would be filled with cigarette smoke and pipe smoke. The sour smell of urine would be everywhere as men often relieved themselves outside in the open. Narrow ditches ran alongside the unpaved streets, these ditches were filled with rain water, and as one old timer recalled years later.
“The whole thing just stunk. Broken whiskey bottles lined the side of the streets, broken barrels cluttered the roads, the roads were unpaved and mostly dirt. People would just piss and shit in the middle of the road and the piss and shit would mix with the dirt and in the summer the smell would be of utter hell. The ditches were often filled with rainwater. Crawfish, snakes and bullfrogs often lived in them. The ditches too were often filled with empty whiskey bottles, discarded knives, pipes and all manner of trash. I think God took one look at that place and just looked away. Hell, Benton at the time only had ten policemen to patrol the whole town. It would have taken a whole damn army to clear out that wreck, everybody had a pistol or a knife on them.”
The men who visited “Greasy Row” often carried long knives with them. They would use these knives to cut each other or rob one another. Often the bodies of those who were killed never saw the light of day. Gators and the swift currents of the Big Black often hid them. And those who did not end up as Gator feet or resting at the bottom of the big black. Were often left to decay in the street. This was a world unto itself. And as long as it kept money flowing into the hands of the rich and kept the poor workers happy. The powers of be were often more than happy to turn a blind eye to what happened in that pit of sin and vice only a stone's throw from their nice little town.
