Benson Railroad Historic District
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Benson Railroad Historic District | |
 223 East 3rd Street | |
   | |
| Location | Benson, Arizona |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 31°58′10″N 110°17′41″W / 31.96944°N 110.29472°W |
| NRHP reference No. | 94000079[1] |
| Added to NRHP | March 11, 1994 |
The Benson Railroad Historic District is an area of Benson, Arizona, located near the site of a former passenger and freight depot. The area contains 16 structures, 11 buildings and 5 outbuildings, although the outbuildings are not considered contributing structures to the historic district.[2]
Benson developed as a hub for three major railroads. This railroad era lasted from 1880 until 1910, and influenced Benson's architectural landscape for decades. The first railroad to arrive was the Southern Pacific in 1880, which led to the creation of Benson, which had been a stagecoach station, Ohnesorgen Stage Station. Since it was the only town in the area with a transcontinental connection, it grew rapidly. Benson served as the transportation hub for southeastern Arizona, where train passengers could take stagecoaches to the other towns in the region, such as Tombstone. It also served as the departing hub for the mineral products being produced in various mining districts near Clifton and Bisbee, and in the Galiuro and Rincon Mountains. When the New Mexico and Arizona Railroad arrived in 1882, and the Arizona Southeastern Railroad Company in 1894, Benson became a "hub city" The Arizona Southeastern, owned by the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company in Bisbee, was built to ship the company's ore to Benson for shipment elsewhere. In 1894 Benson was the only point in Arizona which was served by three independent railroad lines.[3]
This railroad traffic created many commercial needs: hotels, saloons, restaurants, stores, and housing for the workers. The population grew from 300 in 1880 to 1,200 in 1910. The buildings in Benson which were related to the railroad were the station, the Wells Fargo express office. Directly north of the station were housing for railroad personnel, and a hotel. In 1901 the Arizona Southeastern Railroad Company rerouted its traffic, bypassing Benson. Nine years later, in 1910, the Southern Pacific opened a direct line from Tucson to Nogales, also bypassing Benson. This left the town with only a single line running, which negatively impacted the economy of the town.[4]
