Editing Benton County, Arkansas (section)

==History==
Prior to white settlement of the county, the region was used by roving bands of [[Osage Nation|Osage]] and [[Delaware tribe|Delaware]] who used the area for seasonal hunting grounds. Initial white settlement on Benton County took place around [[Maysville, Arkansas|Maysville]] around 1830, followed by areas around [[Garfield, Arkansas|Garfield]], [[Cross Hollow, Arkansas|Cross Hollow]], and [[Centerton, Arkansas|Centerton]]. Settlers were predominantly from [[Tennessee]], followed by Southern [[Piedmont region|Piedmont]] states.<ref>{{cite book|title=History of Benton County |year=1975 |first=J. Dickson |last=Black |pp=18–23 |oclc=1967335 |lccn=75-31495 |ref={{harvid|"Black"|1975}} }}</ref> Benton County was created from neighboring [[Washington County, Arkansas|Washington County]] by the [[Arkansas General Assembly]] on September 30, 1836. Created shortly after statehood, it was named for [[Thomas Hart Benton (senator)|Thomas Hart Benton]], a [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] from [[Missouri]] influential in Arkansas's statehood.<ref name="1868report">{{ cite book |last=Daniels |first=Charlie |authorlink=Charlie Daniels (politician) |year=2002 |title=The 1868 Report: A Collection of Historical Documents from Arkansas's First Land Commissioner |publisher=[[Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands]] |location=Little Rock |page=27 |isbn=9781563118333 |lccn=2002111524 |oclc=57004142}}</ref>

Following establishment, a citizen committee was established to select the [[county seat]]. It decided to create Bentonville, with a town square and 136 lots around it, in 1837. The first building serving as courthouse was the home of George P. Wallace, the first [[county judge]], for the 1837 court term. By the following year, a log structure on the north side of the Bentonville square was complete and served as the first permanent courthouse. In 1841, a contractor was building a brick courthouse in the middle of the Bentonville square. It was burned by Union troops during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] in 1862. Court resumed after the war in a rented office for a few months until a new two-story frame building was constructed east of the county jail. In 1870, the search for a more permanent home for county government began, and a new structure was finished after significant struggle and controversy, in 1874. This building was replaced by the present-day [[Benton County Courthouse (Arkansas)|Benton County Courthouse]] in 1928.<ref>{{harvp|"Black"|1975|pp= 25-30}}.</ref>

On [[Tornado outbreak sequence of May 19–27, 2024|May 26, 2024]], Benton County experienced the largest tornado in Arkansas history, an EF3 with a width of {{convert|1.8|miles|km}}. This also initiated the first ever Arkansas appearance of [[Federal Emergency Management Agency|FEMA]] for emergency disaster relief.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}