unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
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 so ...
of
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
.
Geography
Bench is located along Niter-Bench Road.
History
The community of Bench is part of the
Gem Valley
Gem Valley is a rural valley in Caribou County, Bannock, and Franklin counties in Idaho, United States, so named for its local gemstones which can be found throughout the valley. It is approximately wide at its widest point east to west, and ...
, an area that also includes the communities of
Grace
Grace may refer to:
Places United States
* Grace, Idaho, a city
* Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois
* Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office
* Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uni ...
,
Turner
Turner may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
* Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name
*One who uses a lathe for tur ...
Niter
Niter or nitre is the mineral form of potassium nitrate, KNO3. It is a soft, white, highly soluble mineral found primarily in arid climates or cave deposits.
Potassium and other nitrates are of great importance for use in fertilizers and, hi ...
.
The first settlers in the area were the Collins, Christiansen, and Hubbard families, who settled the place in 1877. These were the only three families until about 1890. Logging was a major industry in the community, and at that time there were two sawmills: one operated by Joe Tolman and one operated by Charles Hubbard.
A post office called Bench was established in 1902, and remained in operation until 1923. The community was named for a prominent landform near the original town site, commonly referred to as a "bench". The "settlers attempted dry farming with little success"; the Bench Canal Company was formed to provide irrigation to the area. The Bench Canal, a 27-mile-long irrigation system, received water in July 1902, but was not completed until October 1919, due to the scarcity of labor caused by servicemen entering
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
stagecoach
A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...
line, which connected Grace, Niter, and Bench to the community of Soda Springs, which would in 1919 become the county seat of Caribou County. Bench's population was 75 in 1909.
In addition to the post office, a number of businesses operated in Bench. In the early 1900s, Bench's sawmill was owned by the Tolman family. The Bench grade school was located one half mile west of the crossroads.
Bench's population was 90 in 1925.
The Bench chapel, a Mormon church, was dedicated in 1936.
Bench is closely associated with the nearby community of Niter; the two communities, separated by the Bench Canal, shared a newspaper column, titled "Niter-Bench", in the ''Caribou County Sun'' from 1957 to 1977.
The Bench Ward Chapel was sold in 1955, after the ward was consolidated with the nearby Williams ward.
Bench regulated kissing on Sunday, requiring the participants to "'pause for breath' between each kiss."