Atkinson is an unincorporated community in Center Township, Benton County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. The site of Atkinson is home to the county's only junior/senior high school, Benton Central.

Geography

Atkinson is located at on the border of

Center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

and Oak Grove Townships.

U.S. Route 52 U.S. Route 52 (US 52) is a major United States highway in the central United States that extends from the northern to southeastern region of the United States. Contrary to most other even-numbered U.S. Highways, US 52 primarily follows ...

and the

Kankakee, Beaverville and Southern Railroad The Kankakee, Beaverville and Southern Railroad Company is a Class III railroad serving agricultural communities in east-central Illinois and west-central Indiana. History In December 1977, Conrail was set to abandon of their ex-New York Cent ...

both pass northwest through the town.

History

Early years

A post office was established at Atkinson in 1873, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1923. The town was named for Cephas Atkinson, the son of Thomas and Francis Head Atkinson and served as a shipping point on the Big Four railway. Atkinson was noted as one of the seven Benton County towns on the Big Four railway when Elmore Barce listed these seven towns in ''The History of Benton County, Indiana'', from northwest to southeast: " Raub, Earl Park, Fowler, Swanington, Atkinson, Templeton and Otterbein." In 1882, the Western Telephone Company of Chicago established telephone service in Benton County, with offices in Atkinson, Fowler, Templeton, Oxford, and Otterbein. A 1916 lightning storm in Atkinson "opened a hole in the road eight feet in diameter and four feet deep", killing a man and his team of horses, and destroying a wagon. Despite its small size, during the 1920s, Atkinson was called a "thriving little village" in the ''

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

(Indiana) Gazette''.

Education

The first school in the Atkinson area was named the Gwin School, built in 1857 one mile south of Atkinson and which burned down a few years after. Later, a "fine brick" schoolhouse was completed in Atkinson in 1906. In the 1960s, a new school, Benton Central School, was built at Atkinson Station. This complex is now known as Benton Central Junior-Senior High. Prairie Crossing Elementary School opened in October 2006.

Demographics

Despite its location on a major rail line, Atkinson's population remained small. The population of the community was 50 in 1890, and just 41 in 1900. The population of the community was recorded as 46 in 1920. Its population in the 1920s was from 10 to 15.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Benton County, Indiana Unincorporated communities in Indiana