Editing Bennington Township, Michigan (section)

==History==
The first government land purchase was made by Samuel Nichols, Israel Parsons and Benjamin Powers in 1835. Nichols became the first settler in Bennington.<ref name="tap"/>

At a location called Hartwellville, the first store was opened by Giles Tucker. In 1838, Johnathon M. Hartwell, formerly of Norwich, NY, took over from Tucker.<ref name="tap"/>

Bennington Township was organized on March 6, 1838, with the area of township area 5 North Range 2, the future Perry Township, split off from Shiawassee Township.<ref name="tap0">{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CWAiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RqsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1170%2C226866 | title=County Also Marks 150 | work=The Argus-Press | date=July 1, 1986 | access-date=4 May 2015 | author=Epstein, Michael | pages=F11}}</ref> The first township supervisor was Lemuel Castle.<ref name="tap"/> Perry Township was separated off by an act on March 15, 1841.<ref name="tap0"/> A rail station was opened at the Bennington community.<ref name="mpn">{{cite book |last1=Romig |first1=Walter |title=Michigan Place Names: The History of the Founding and the Naming of More Than Five Thousand Past and Present Michigan Communities |date=1986 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=9780814318386 |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-FPXEGRo-YC&q=Bennington&pg=PA56 |access-date=March 1, 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

On February 11, 1841, Hartwell became the first postmaster for the Hartwell post office. On December 13, 1848, a post office was opened in Bennington village with first postmaster Benjamin Davis.<ref name="tap"/>

By 1878, there was a hamlet called Alton in the township. Alton was 8/10 of a mile west of Morrice Road on Grand River Trail.  The hamlet later abandoned becoming a ghost town.<ref name="tap"/>

The Hartwell family served as postmaster until the Hartwell office closed on January 15, 1901. Later Hartwellville was abandoned. The Bennington post office was discontinued on February 28, 1958.<ref name="tap"/>