BENNETT, TEXAS (Frio County). Bennett, also known as Bennett Settlement and Hamlin, was on the Leona River a half mile west of the intersection of Interstate Highway 35 and the Frio River in southwest Frio County. The settlement was named for one of the community's first settlers, Hamilton Bennett, who came to the area in 1876. Between 1876 and 1877 an irrigation project consisting of a dam, water wells, and a canal system, funded by the state of Texas with a large land grant, was brought near completion in Bennett before a flood of the Leona River destroyed the dam. According to local tradition the dam was never rebuilt because the volume of water in the river dropped. Between 1878 and 1881 a post office by the name of Hamlin operated in the community. Although the community disappeared from maps after 1885, local people continued to refer to the site as Bennett or Bennett Settlement. Around 1908 a well was drilled at the site that provided continuous irrigation water for local farmers as late as 1990. The site of Bennett was within the Cory and McWilliams Ranch in 1936. Remains of the canal and several wells were said to be visible aboveground as late as 1971.

Bibliography: Mrs. W. A. Roberts, "Frio County Has a Colorful History," Frontier Times, June 1936.

Ruben E. Ochoa