Benson Junction (ACL Station)
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Benson Junction is located in southwest
Volusia County Volusia County (, ) is located in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Florida, stretching between the St. Johns River and the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the county was home to 553,543 people, an incr ...
,
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, within the city limits of DeBary. It is the former location of the Ox Fibre Brush Company and presently an industrial location. Benson Junction is located just west of U.S. Highway 17-92 (Charles Richard Beall Blvd.), along Benson Junction Road.


History

In 1885 Benson Junction was known as Enterprise Junction. By 1918, it became known as Benson Junction. The area consisted primarily of a railroad junction of the Indian River Division, owned by Luther Caldwell and Elijah Watson. The Enterprise Branch consisted of a 3.9 mile stretch of railroad between Enterprise and Enterprise Junction. The railroad continued to Titusville. Through consolidation, the railroad became part of the
Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway The Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway was a railroad and steamboat network in Florida, USA at the end of the 19th century. Most of its lines became part of the Plant System in 1899 and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. The line re ...
. In 1970, the tracks were removed. The Ox Fibre Brush Company was founded in Sanford in 1884 by John K. Robinson. Brushes were made from the fibers of the native cabbage (sabal) palms, which are both strong and flexible. The palms were harvested from a 500–600-acre plot of land owned by the company in what is now the Orlandia Heights subdivision. A few years later, the plant was moved to Jacksonville, Florida. On May 3, 1901, a fire in the plant destroyed the plant as well as a significant portion of Jacksonville. The plant was rebuilt in Sanford, Florida, and in 1925, it was moved to a 40-acre site at Benson Junction, where brooms and brushes were produced until the plant closed in the 1970s. During the prominence of the Ox Fibre Brush Company at Benson Junction, the area also had a post office and a grocery store. Benson Junction was included in the boundaries of DeBary, when DeBary incorporated as a city in 1993.


References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Volusia County, Florida Unincorporated communities in Florida