title: Benfeld
text: # Benfeld
  
  Benfeld (French pronunciation: (listen); Alsatian: Banfald) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in northeastern France. It is situated on the river Ill. In the nearby hamlet Ehl there is an archaeological site with the remains of the Gallo-Roman city Ellelum or Helvetum. Benfeld station has rail connections to Strasbourg and Colmar.
  
  The missionary to remote northern Australia, Francis Xavier Gsell, was born in Benfeld in 1872.
  
  ## Population
  
  | Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
  | - | - | - |
  | 1793 | 1,309 | — |
  | 1800 | 1,220 | −1.00% |
  | 1806 | 1,188 | −0.44% |
  | 1821 | 1,794 | +2.79% |
  | 1831 | 2,230 | +2.20% |
  | 1836 | 2,555 | +2.76% |
  | 1841 | 2,688 | +1.02% |
  | 1846 | 2,807 | +0.87% |
  | 1851 | 3,001 | +1.35% |
  | 1856 | 2,926 | −0.50% |
  | 1861 | 2,745 | −1.27% |
  | 1866 | 2,757 | +0.09% |
  | 1871 | 2,603 | −1.14% |
  | 1875 | 2,635 | +0.31% |
  | 1880 | 2,797 | +1.20% |
  | 1885 | 2,544 | −1.88% |
  | 1890 | 2,324 | −1.79% |
  | 1895 | 2,479 | +1.30% |
  | Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
  | 1900 | 2,388 | −0.75% |
  | 1905 | 2,466 | +0.64% |
  | 1910 | 2,640 | +1.37% |
  | 1921 | 2,518 | −0.43% |
  | 1926 | 2,655 | +1.07% |
  | 1931 | 2,741 | +0.64% |
  | 1936 | 2,838 | +0.70% |
  | 1946 | 2,588 | −0.92% |
  | 1954 | 2,886 | +1.37% |
  | 1962 | 3,449 | +2.25% |
  | 1968 | 3,441 | −0.04% |
  | 1975 | 3,798 | +1.42% |
  | 1982 | 4,451 | +2.29% |
  | 1990 | 4,330 | −0.34% |
  | 1999 | 4,878 | +1.33% |
  | 2007 | 5,315 | +1.08% |
  | 2012 | 5,667 | +1.29% |
  | 2017 | 5,753 | +0.30% |
  
  Source: EHESS and INSEE (1968-2017) :
  
  ## Sights
  
  The core of the town boasts a number of ancient buildings, chief among them the Renaissance town hall with its 1619 automata. The handsome 1846 synagogue survived the Nazi occupation.
  
  