BENFORD, TEXAS. Benford was on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas (Katy) Railroad between Corrigan and Stryker in eastern Polk County. In the mid-1880s construction of the Trinity and Sabine Railway through northern Polk County opened the virgin forests of the area to major lumbering interests. The Trinity and Sabine, acquired and extended by the Katy, spawned a large number of sawmills near Corrigan. Among these was the mill at Benford, which was established in 1889 and named for its founders, Bennett and Stanford. A post office was opened in 1905, and Benford eventually became a station on the Katy line. The lumber plant was operated by a variety of firms, including the West Lumber Company, the Burkett and Barnes Lumber Company, the Mardez Lumber Company, the Glynn Lumber Company, the Ragley Lumber Company, and the Lynch Davidson Company. When the timber was gone, the sawmill community faded; the post office closed in 1924.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: A Pictorial History of Polk County, Texas, 1846–1910 (Livingston, Texas: Polk County Bicentennial Commission, 1976; rev. ed. 1978).
