BENFORD, TEXAS. Benford was on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas
(Katy) Railroad between Corrigan and Stryker in eastern Polk
County. In the mid-1880s construction of the Trinity and Sabine
Railway through northern Polk County opened the virgin forests
of the area to major lumbering interests. The Trinity and
Sabine, acquired and extended by the Katy, spawned a large
number of sawmills near Corrigan. Among these was the mill at
Benford, which was established in 1889 and named for its
founders, Bennett and Stanford. A post office was opened in
1905, and Benford eventually became a station on the Katy line.
The lumber plant was operated by a variety of firms, including
the West Lumber Company, the Burkett and Barnes Lumber Company,
the Mardez Lumber Company, the Glynn Lumber Company, the Ragley
Lumber Company, and the Lynch Davidson Company. When the timber
was gone, the sawmill community faded; the post office closed in
1924. A Pictorial History of Polk County, Texas, 1846–1910
(Livingston, Texas: Polk County Bic