Benbrook City Hall is located at 911 Winscott Road, Benbrook, TX 76126.
Phone: 817‑249‑3000.
Neighborhoods
Beginnings [1]
Prior to the arrival of Anglo settlers, large herds of buffalo and members of the Wichita, Caddo, Comanche and Lipan Apache Indian tribes roamed the Benbrook area. Archeologists estimate that the area has been inhabited at least 11,000 years, though there is considerable debate as to whether or not that amount of time is much greater. Indian communities looked for the same environmental factors as present communities, with the availability of an adequate water supply being a primary consideration. Undoubtedly, the confluence of the Clear Fork-Trinity River and Mary's Creek provided such a watering place to tribes as they passed through the area on hunting expeditions.
As a community, Benbrook is one of the oldest in Tarrant County. But as an incorporated City, it is one of the youngest. Anglos originally settled the Benbrook area as part of the Peters' Colony, led by William S. Peters, who based his operations out of Louisville, Kentucky. Formed by a series of contracts beginning on August 30th, 1841 with the young Republic of Texas, the colony would eventually encompass some 26 Texas counties. In 1842, the Republic granted Peters a contract to attract 250 families per year to the Benbrook (then called Miranda or Marinda) area specifically by offering 320 acres free to family men and 160 acres to single immigrants, plus a free cabin, seed, and musket balls. Peters and his partners, mostly Englishmen, sought to bring not only Americans but English and French settlers as well.
S. Edward and Nancy Willburn of Missouri reportedly came to the area in 1843 as Family 107 of the Peters' Colony, then settling along Mary's Creek near Benbrook in 1854. A "Mary's Creek Post Office" was established sometime during the 1850s or 1860s, with Benjamin Richerson serving as Postmaster, though other accounts cite 1880 as the Post Office's first establishment. Lemuel Edwards settled along the Clear Fork near present-day Hulen Street in 1848, with land holdings that eventually covered 4,020 acres by 1955. Settlements in the area were sparse until the 1940s and 50s.