The Diagonal Progress
Diagonal, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, July 8, 1982

The Benton community has started a campaign to keep their post office open. Karyn GRAHAM, Benton's OIC, reported that there has been no offical report that the post office is to be closed. Benton is one of several small post offices that has not had the position of postmaster filled on a permanent basis. Mrs. GRAHAM has been officer-in-charge for some 4 1/2 years. She keeps hours at the post office for about four hours a day. There have been some of the smaller post offices closed recently. The post office at Sewel in Wayne County has been closed.

In July the subject of the closing of the post office was the subject at a potluck dinner held in the community hall in Benton. Kingsley SCHAUDT from Slater spoke to a group of about 50 persons. Mr. SCHAUDT, president of the postmaster's association, stated that it might be possible to keep the post office if there was interest and support from the community. Some 50 persons showed up at the potluck dinner. The Alumni Association had donated the food leftover from their banquet for the potluck.

It has been stated that the closing of 300,000 smaller post offices across the country would save only about 12 percent from the postal budget.

Support from the Benton post office has come from both the town and a large rural area, ranging from Diagonal to Redding. Petitions have been sent to the Iowa Congressmen.

Supporters of the Benton post office have stated several reasons why the post office should be kept open. There is someone who wants the job. The post office was remodeled two years ago. The remodeling has cut the heat bill in half. The post office is the last business in Benton.

The post office building is owned by the I.O.O.F. Lodge. The neatly kept building was built in 1931, after a fire had destroyed the old Lodge building. Marshal MATTHEWS was the last store operatore, and the store has been closed since 1968. A new building made of brick, across the street from the post office, is the only other building standing in the business district of Benton. This building is owned by the telephone compnay, and serves Benton and two other towns. Two other businesses are located in the rural area near Benton. Dick ELLIOTT has an auto service and the Farmland Benton Co-op is west of town.

Benton has been active in the Community Betterment programs. The old Methodist Church, built in 1890, was purchased by the town and has been remodeled into a nice community hall. The latest Community Betterment project for Benton is the building of a new park across the street from the post office - and is just about finished.

The fight to keep the post office has been led by Benton's mayor, among others.

Benton's mayor, Helen BLUNCK, reports that the support for keeping of the post office has been good. Mrs. BLUNCK has been mayor of Benton for 20 years. The council is made up of all women, also. Mrs. BLUNCK has lived in Benton for 52 years. She and her husband raised a family of nine children in Benton. Her late husband had the first 18-foot semi-trailer in Ringgold County.

Benton has had sort of a population boom in the past two years. The town had a population of only 36 in the 1980 census, but the population is up to 50 now. There are several children, living in the town limits, who attend school in Mount Ayr. The school building in Benton was closed in May, 1980. Benton and Tingley were the last towns to have a school open outside of Mount Ayr [ Diagonal School remains open to the present-day - SRB].

There has been no official word that the post office is to be closed, but the Benton community isn't waiting for the word to come down. They have already started their fight to keep their post office and what many believe is their survival. Benton will be having a Centennial in 1987 and they plan on being a town to celebrate.

Might note that Benton has been in other fights and have come out on top. The Benton school district was a strong one and were even able to form a township just made up of the Benton district (Waubonsie).

photograph by Sharon R. Becker, October of 2009

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2010