Benbow is a

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 ...

Humboldt County, California Humboldt County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 136,463. The county seat is Eureka, California, Eureka. Humboldt County compri ...

, located beside the

South Fork Eel River The South Fork Eel River is the largest tributary of the Eel River (California), Eel River in north-central California in the United States. The river flows north from Laytonville, California, Laytonville to Dyerville, California, Dyerville/Foun ...

. It is south-southeast of Garberville, at an elevation of 440 feet (134 m). Its population is 422 as of the 2020 census, up from 321 from the 2010 census. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Benbow as a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP).

History

The children of Arthur Benbow purchased from Ernest Linser and also some land from John Kamper, Jack Bowden and a Mr. Peirce in 1922. It soon became apparent that ranching would not be sufficient to meet their needs so the family constructed the Benbow Inn resort hotel. In the early years the Inn was known as the Hotel Benbow and opened on July 17, 1926. The electricity for the hotel came from two diesel generators until a dam and powerhouse was completed on the south fork of the Eel River. The

Tudorbethan Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...

style inn is still in operation on US Route 101 between

Humboldt Bay Humboldt Bay (Wiyot language, Wiyot: ''Wigi'') is a natural bay and a multi-basin, bar-built coastal lagoon located on the rugged North Coast (California), North Coast of California, entirely within Humboldt County, California, Humboldt County, ...

and the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. The post office was established on December 30, 1929, and operated at Benbow until it was merged with the Garberville post office on January 31, 1953.

Demographics

The 2020 United States census reported that Benbow had a population of 422. The population density was . The racial makeup of Benbow was 81.3%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.4%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.2% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.0%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 4.0% from other races, and 10.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11.4% of the population. The census reported that 99.8% of the population lived in households, 0.2% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and no one was institutionalized. There were 199 households, out of which 19.6% included children under the age of 18, 35.7% were married-couple households, 13.1% were

cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...

couple households, 25.1% had a female householder with no partner present, and 26.1% had a male householder with no partner present. 38.7% of households were one person, and 13.1% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.12. There were 99

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

(49.7% of all households). The age distribution was 20.6% under the age of 18, 4.0% aged 18 to 24, 29.6% aged 25 to 44, 27.0% aged 45 to 64, and 18.7% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 41.7years. For every 100 females, there were 102.9 males. There were 229 housing units at an average density of , of which 199 (86.9%) were occupied. Of these, 59.3% were owner-occupied, and 40.7% were occupied by renters.

Government

State and federal

In the

state legislature A state legislature is a Legislature, legislative branch or body of a State (country subdivision), political subdivision in a Federalism, federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of ...

, Benbow is in , and . Federally, it is in .

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Humboldt County, California Populated places established in 1926 Census-designated places in California