Benson, Arizona: A Railroad Town, Two Name Stories

The Southern Pacific named Benson, Arizona, in 1880, and the sources split on who for: a friend of Charles Crocker or a peddler who passed through. Both stories put the railroad in charge of the name.

A town laid out by the railroad

The Southern Pacific was building across southern Arizona, and it reached the San Pedro valley in the early summer of 1880. A local history of the line, drawing on David Myrick’s Railroads of Arizona, says the railroad’s owners had their Pacific Improvement Co., a holding company for their investments outside the railroad itself, plat a town at the Middle Crossing of the San Pedro. Lots went on sale on June 21, 1880, and regular trains started the next day. The Geological Survey’s record for the town keeps it short: “Founded in 1880.”

A judge or a peddler?

Myrick’s history of Arizona’s railroads gives the first version. The town laid out by the Pacific Improvement Co. “was named Benson in honor of William B. Benson, a friend of Charles Crocker.” Crocker was one of the men who built the railroad. Myrick goes on: “‘Judge’ Benson was engaged in mining in California, Idaho, Arizona,” and the excerpt we could read stops there.

Will C. Barnes’s Arizona Place Names, published in 1935, has another story. He quotes a letter from L. D. Redfield of Benson: “Named by the S. P. R. R. for a peddler who made frequent trips through this place in early days.” Then Barnes adds, “There are several stories about this name, none being well authenticated.”

So you get a mining man called “Judge,” or a peddler who came through often. Myrick’s version is the more detailed one, since it names a specific person and ties him to the railroad’s builders. But Barnes wasn’t sure of any of the stories, and the sources we read don’t settle it.

A junction and a shipping point

Whoever the name honored, Benson grew because roads and rails met there. Barnes calls it a “Town on S. P. R. R. about 48 miles east of Tucson,” that is, about 77 km, and adds that “Benson was an important early shipping point for mines.” James H. McClintock’s 1916 history notes that the New Mexico & Arizona Railroad was “built from Benson southwest” and reached the border town of Nogales around October 1882.

Benson also turns up in a famous Tombstone story. After Morgan Earp was shot in an Allen Street saloon in Tombstone, McClintock writes, his brothers and Doc Holliday started for California with his body, and “the train, taken at Benson, arrived in Tucson about dusk.” Stagecoaches and freight wagons ran between Benson and the mines around Tombstone, so if you were headed from there to Tucson by train, Benson was where you got on.

Quick answers

Who is Benson, Arizona, named after?

It’s disputed. Myrick’s Railroads of Arizona says William B. Benson, a friend of Charles Crocker of the Southern Pacific. Barnes’s Arizona Place Names (1935) quotes a letter saying the railroad named it for a peddler, and calls none of the stories well authenticated.

When was Benson, Arizona, founded?

In 1880. Lots went on sale on June 21, 1880, when the Southern Pacific reached the San Pedro River.

Why was Benson important?

It was a railroad junction and, in Barnes’s words, “an important early shipping point for mines.” A railroad to Nogales was built southwest from Benson in 1882.

Key dates

1. 1880June 21: town lots go on sale at Benson; regular trains start the next day.
2. 1882About October: the New Mexico & Arizona Railroad, built southwest from Benson, reaches the new town of Nogales.

Getting there

Open Benson in Google Maps

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Opens in a new tab. The pin is the center of Benson in the USGS place-name record.

The closest airports, Amtrak stations and intercity bus stops, measured in a straight line from the center of Benson.

Airports

• Tucson International (TUS) Tucson International Airport 39 mi 63 km
• Mesa Gateway (IWA) 122 mi 196 km
• Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX) 142 mi 229 km

Amtrak trains

• Benson station (BEN) under 1 mi 0.2 km
• Tucson station (TUS) 43 mi 69 km

Intercity buses

• Greyhound Benson Visitors Center under 1 mi 0.1 km
• Limousine Express Willcox 33 mi 54 km
• FlixBus East Tucson 38 mi 61 km

Distances are as the crow flies, not by road. We don't list schedules or fares because they change; check with the airline, Amtrak or the bus company before you go. Official data (FAA commercial service airports (2025), FAA airport locations, Amtrak stations and Intercity Bus Atlas) from the FAA and the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, checked Nov 6, 2026.

Historical Sources & References

• David F. Myrick, Railroads of Arizona, vol. 1 (1975). The town laid out by the Pacific Improvement Co., “named Benson in honor of William B. Benson, a friend of Charles Crocker,” and “‘Judge’ Benson was engaged in mining.” Read as short search excerpts; the book is a lending copy.
• Will C. Barnes, Arizona Place Names (1935). Benson as a town on the Southern Pacific about 48 miles east of Tucson and “an important early shipping point for mines,” L. D. Redfield’s peddler story and “several stories about this name, none being well authenticated.” Read as short search excerpts.
• James H. McClintock, Arizona, vol. 2 (1916), pp. 481-482 and 586. The Earps taking the train at Benson, and the New Mexico & Arizona Railroad “built from Benson southwest” to Nogales.
• scihistory.info, “Arrival of railroads in southeastern Arizona.” The railroad’s arrival in 1880, the Pacific Improvement Co.’s town, the lot sale of June 21, 1880, and the stage and freight traffic to Tombstone, citing Myrick.
• GNIS feature 1248 (U.S. Geological Survey). The Geological Survey’s gazetteer entry, which reads simply “Founded in 1880.”