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Situated along the Chippewa River, Benson is the county seat of Swift County, Minnesota. The first white settlers came into the area that was to become Benson after the Indian Outbreak of 1862 and the Homestead Act of the same year, which opened the area to European-American settlement. A Norwegian settler by the name of Ole Corneiliusen is though to have been the first settler, having arrived by foot in 1866. The community was platted when the railroad was extended to that point in 1870, and named for Benjamin H. Benson, an early Norwegian settler. Benson was also a stopping point for the famous Red River Ox Carts, and the Hudson Bay Company maintained a warehouse there. A post office was established at Benson at that time, and the town was incorporated as a city in 1908. US Highway 12, Minnesota Highway 9, and Minnesota Highway 29 are the chief routes through the city. Nearby communities include Clontarf, Danvers, De Graff, Fairfield, Holloway, Murdock, and Swift Falls. Minneapolis, Minnesota is about a hundred and forty miles east of Benson.

 

 

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