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==History== Benld was established in 1903.<ref>{{cite book|author=Chicago and North Western Railway Company|title=A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OspBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA43|year=1908|page=43}}</ref> The name derives from founder Benjamin L. Dorsey (d. June 19, 1895), who was responsible for gaining the land on which the town was built and coal mining rights. "Benld" is the combination of Dorsey's first name and his middle and last initial.<ref>[http://spinotew1.commerce.state.il.us/SBCmmnty.nsf/c6bb23f800ab8ec18625698900762fcc/c095f63dc55d02108625721a0078ba32?OpenDocument Benld Chamber (Macoupin)]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, accessed 2007-10-14</ref><ref>Temple, Robert D. ''Edge Effects: The Border-Name Places'', (2nd edition, 2009), iUniverse, {{ISBN|978-0-595-47758-6}}, page 323.</ref> The village was home to [[St. Mary's Russian Orthodox Church, Benld, Illinois|St. Mary's Russian Orthodox]] church until 2010. Opened in 1901 by [[Rusyns|Carpatho-Rusyn]] immigrants,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Duncan |first1=Mary |title=How St. Mary's Came To Benld |newspaper=Alton Evening Telegraph |date=Feb 19, 1972 |page=7}}</ref> Holy Dormition was converted to a Monastery in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sj-r.com/story/lifestyle/faith/2010/01/25/benld-s-russian-orthodox-cathedral/41757717007/ | title=Benld's Russian Orthodox cathedral to become monastery|date=2010-01-24|author=Debra Landis}}</ref> The church was founded to serve the immigrant mining community.<ref>{{cite web |first=Terry |last=Alliband |title=Expressions: Folkways in Southern Illinois |date=1980 |publisher=Southern Illinois University Carbondale|url=https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/ua_docs/40/ |pages=8 |series=THE EASTERN ORTHODOX COMMUNITY IN ROYALTON}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Benld Family Picnic Sunday |publisher=Alton Evening Telegraph |date=Aug 12, 1972 |page=16}}</ref> [[Image:Benldmeteorite.jpg|thumb|left|Photo of the car seat and muffler hit by the Benld meteorite with the meteorite inset.]] On September 29, 1938, a [[meteorite]] landed in Benld, marking only the third meteorite landing in Illinois since records were kept.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://meteorites.wustl.edu/illinois_meteorites.htm|title=Illinois Meteorites|website=meteorites.wustl.edu|access-date=2018-06-11|archive-date=June 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180601054919/http://meteorites.wustl.edu/illinois_meteorites.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> It is one of the few known meteorites to strike a man-made object, punching a hole in the roof of Edward McCain's garage and embedding itself in the seat of his 1928 [[Pontiac (automobile)|Pontiac]] coupe. A neighbor, Mrs. Carl Crum, was standing about fifty feet from the impact and may be the individual who came closest to being struck by a meteorite in history up to that time.<ref>{{Cite news | title = Three Point Landing | newspaper = Time | date = January 23, 1939 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,760632,00.html?promoid=googlep | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121020224526/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,760632,00.html?promoid=googlep | url-status = dead | archive-date = October 20, 2012 }}</ref> The meteorite and portions of the car are now on display at the [[Field Museum of Natural History]] in [[Chicago]].<ref>{{cite web | last = Nuñez | first = Clarita | author2 = Irving L. Diamond | title = Meteorites at the Field Museum | publisher = Field Museum of Natural History | url = http://www.fieldmuseum.org/research_collections/geology/meteor_col.pdf | access-date = 2007-10-14 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070929122611/http://www.fieldmuseum.org/research_Collections/geology/meteor_col.pdf | archive-date = 2007-09-29 | url-status = dead }}</ref> In March 2009, the seven-year-old Benld Elementary school was damaged beyond repair and ultimately condemned. The damage was caused by [[Subsidence|mine subsidence]] and left more than 700 students without a school. The students were moved to the Gillespie High School and Middle School campus, where they finished the remainder of the year on a split shift schedule. High school and middle school students attended school from 6:30am to noon, and elementary aged students attended from 12:30pm until 5:00 pm. The students started the 2010 school year on the split shift. On November 2, 2010, all students returned to a normal schedule, with the elementary children attending class in three different locations (modular units, middle school classrooms, and the S.S. Simon & Jude Catholic School). The district was allowed to collect only $350,000 in mine subsidence insurance due to limits imposed by the state of Illinois. The district is in line to receive funding from the Capital Development Board to help with the construction of a new elementary school. The school is responsible for 20% of the $22 million budget to build a new school. The school district is actively pursuing grants to fulfill their responsibility. The Ben-Gil Boosters, an organization formed to help raise funds for the construction of the new school, won $250,000 in April 2010 through Pepsi's Refresh Everything Campaign.<ref>{{cite web|title=To rebuild our grade school that was destroyed in March of 2009|url=http://www.refresheverything.com/bengilelementary|access-date=2 March 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125150118/http://www.refresheverything.com/bengilelementary|archive-date=25 November 2010}}</ref> The new school is adjacent to the district's middle school and high school in [[Gillespie, Illinois|Gillespie]]. Its name has been changed to Ben-Gil Elementary School, to reflect both communities. At a special CUSD 7 Board of Education meeting on August 16, 2017, the board approved a $4 million settlement with the [[Union Pacific Railroad]], legal owners of the assets of the former Superior Coal Company, in connection with the subsidence. Originally, the district had been awarded $9.85 million in 2014, but Union Pacific appealed that ruling.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://enquirerdemocrat.com/cusd-7-approves-4-million-settlement-union-pacific/|title=CUSD 7 approves $4 million Union Pacific settlement - Enquirer Democrat|date=2017-08-17|work=Enquirer Democrat|access-date=2017-08-22|language=en-US}}</ref>
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