Atkinson, Indiana

{{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}} {{Infobox settlement    |official_name = Atkinson, Indiana |settlement_type = Unincorporated community |image_skyline = Benton Central High School.png |imagesize = |image_caption = Benton Central Junior-Senior High School |motto =  |image_map = Map of Indiana highlighting Benton County.svg |mapsize = 150px |map_caption = Benton County's location in Indiana |image_map1 = |mapsize1 = |map_caption1 = |pushpin_map = USA Indiana Benton County |pushpin_label = Atkinson |pushpin_label_position = |pushpin_mapsize =  |pushpin_map_caption = Location in Benton County |coordinates = {{coord|40|33|46|N|87|14|48|W|region:US-IN|display=inline,title}} |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = {{USA}} |subdivision_type1 = State |subdivision_type2 = County |subdivision_type3 = Township |subdivision_name1 = {{flag|Indiana}} |subdivision_name2 = Benton |subdivision_name3 = Center  |established_title = |established_date =  |founder = |named_for = Cephas Atkinson  |area_total_km2 = |area_land_km2 =  |elevation_footnotes = <ref name="GR3-u">{{cite gnis|430324|Atkinson|2026-02-24}}</ref> |elevation_ft = 778 |population_total =  |population_as_of = |population_footnotes = |population_note = |postal_code_type = ZIP code |postal_code = 47971 |area_code = 765 | unemployment_rate = |website = |footnotes = |image_dot_map = |dot_mapsize = |dot_map_caption = |dot_x = |dot_y = |timezone = Eastern (EST) |utc_offset = -5 |timezone_DST = EDT |utc_offset_DST = -4 |blank_name = FIPS code |blank_info = 18-02566<ref name="GR2">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/ |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=2008-01-31 |title=U.S. Census website |archive-date=December 27, 1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961227012639/https://www.census.gov/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |blank1_name = GNIS feature ID |blank1_info = [http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:430324 430324] }} '''Atkinson''' is an unincorporated community in Center Township, Benton County, in the U.S. state of Indiana.<ref name="GNIS">{{cite web | url = {{GNIS3|430324}} | title = Atkinson, Indiana | work = Geographic Names Information System | publisher = United States Geological Survey | access-date = February 29, 2020}}</ref> The site of Atkinson is home to the county's only junior/senior high school, Benton Central.

==Geography== Atkinson is located at {{coord|40|33|46|N|87|14|48|W|type:city}} on the border of Center and Oak Grove Townships. U.S. Route 52 and the Kankakee, Beaverville and Southern Railroad both pass northwest through the town.

==History== ===Early years=== thumb|left|Atkinson and Swanington, Indiana, in Center Township A post office was established at Atkinson in 1873, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1923.<ref>{{cite web | access-date=26 August 2014 | archive-date=September 3, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903094530/http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=IN&county=Benton | url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=IN&county=Benton | title=Benton County | publisher=Jim Forte Postal History | url-status=live | language=en}}</ref> The town was named for Cephas Atkinson, the son of Thomas and Francis Head Atkinson <ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/fromneedmoretopr00bake | title=From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History | publisher=Indiana University Press | date=October 1995 | last=Baker | first=Ronald L. | page=[https://archive.org/details/fromneedmoretopr00bake/page/n70 55] | isbn=978-0-253-32866-3 | quote=The name honors Cephas Atkinson son of Thomas and Francis Head Atkinson, a prominent cattleman... | url-access=registration | language=en}}</ref> and served as a shipping point on the Big Four railway. Atkinson was noted as one of the seven Benton County towns on the Big Four railway when Elmore Barce listed these seven towns in ''The History of Benton County, Indiana'', from northwest to southeast: "Raub, Earl Park, Fowler, Swanington, Atkinson, Templeton and Otterbein."<ref>{{cite book | first1=Elmore | last1=Barce | url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006786545 | title=History of Benton County, Indiana | publisher=The Benton Review Shop | date=1930 | last2=Swan | first2=Robert A. | location=Fowler, Indiana | pages=113 | language=en}}</ref>

In 1882, the Western Telephone Company of Chicago established telephone service in Benton County, with offices in Atkinson, Fowler, Templeton, Oxford, and Otterbein.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p1819coll6/id/39208 | title=Counties of Warren, Benton, Jasper, and Newton counties, Indiana | publisher=F.A. Battey & Co. | year=1883 | location=Chicago, IL | pages=305 | language=en}}</ref>

A 1916 lightning storm in Atkinson "opened a hole in the road eight feet in diameter and four feet deep", killing a man and his team of horses, and destroying a wagon.<ref>{{cite news | access-date=2022-09-30 | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/connersville-evening-news-jul-01-1916-p-8/ | title=Deadly Bolt Kills Farmer and Team and Rends the Earth | work=Connersville Evening News | pages=8 | language=en}}</ref>

Despite its small size, during the 1920s, Atkinson was called a "thriving little village" in the ''Oxford (Indiana) Gazette''.<ref>{{cite news | access-date=2022-09-29 | archive-date=September 30, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930013534/https://newspaperarchive.com/oxford-oxford-gazette-jan-26-1923-p-3/ | url=https://newspaperarchive.com/oxford-oxford-gazette-jan-26-1923-p-3/ | title=Untitled | url-status=live | work=Oxford Gazette | pages=3 | language=en}}</ref>

===Education=== The first school in the Atkinson area was named the Gwin School, built in 1857 one mile south of Atkinson and which burned down a few years after. Later, a "fine brick" schoolhouse was completed in Atkinson in 1906.<ref>{{cite book | access-date=September 30, 2022 | archive-date=September 30, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930020725/https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/public/gdcmassbookdig/progressofeducat01mckn/progressofeducat01mckn.pdf | url=https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/public/gdcmassbookdig/progressofeducat01mckn/progressofeducat01mckn.pdf | title=Progress of education in Benton County, Indiana, with an explanation of the Indiana school system and the duties of school officers, patrons and pupils | publisher=Scott-Miller Co., printers | last=McKnight | first=Levi Adolphus | url-status=live | year=1906 | pages=66, 68 | language=en}}</ref>

In the 1960s, a new school, Benton Central School, was built at Atkinson Station.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=96dOAAAAMAAJ&q=%2522benton+central%2522%252B%2522atkinson%2522 | title=Some Indiana Descendants of John Rhodes, a Mennonite Minister in the Shenandoah Valley | publisher=M.M. Johnson | last=Johnson | first=Mary Moyars | year=1987 | pages=28 | language=en}}</ref> This complex is now known as Benton Central Junior-Senior High. Prairie Crossing Elementary School opened in October 2006.<ref>{{cite web | access-date=2022-10-01 | url=https://www.benton.k12.in.us/o/pce/article/780187 | title=About Prairie Crossing Elementary | language=en | website=www.benton.k12.in.us}}</ref>

===Demographics=== {{Historical populations |title= Atkinson<br>historical population |type= USA |align= left |width= |state= Indiana |shading= |percentages= |1890|50 |1900|41 |1920|46 }} Despite its location on a major rail line, Atkinson's population remained small. The population of the community was 50 in 1890,<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CPAwAQAAMAAJ&dq=cram%2527s+1885+atlas&pg=PA330 | title=Cram's Universal Atlas: Geographical, Astronomical and Historical, Containing a Complete Series of Maps of Modern Geography, Illustrated by Numerous Views and Charts; the Whole Supplemented with Valuable Statistics, Diagrams, and a Complete Gazetteer of the United States | publisher=G.F. Cram | date=1890 | last=Cram | first=George Franklin | pages=364 | language=en}}</ref> and just 41 in 1900.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9AzrWecxN1wC | title=Cram's Modern Atlas: The New Unrivaled New Census Edition | publisher=J. R. Gray & Company | date=1902 | page=134 | language=en}}</ref> The population of the community was recorded as 46 in 1920.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WqRRAQAAMAAJ | title=Premier Atlas of the World: Containing Maps of All Countries of the World, with the Most Recent Boundary Decisions, and Maps of All the States, Territories, and Possessions of the United States with Population Figures from the Latest Official Census Reports, Also Data of Interest Concerning International and Domestic Political Questions | publisher=Rand McNally & Company | date=1925 | page=185 | language=en}}</ref> Its population in the 1920s was from 10 to 15.<ref>{{cite book | chapter=Towns of the County | title=History of Benton County and Historic Oxford | publisher=Craw & Craw | last=Birch | first=Jesse Setlington | orig-year=1928 | year=1942 | location=Oxford, Indiana | page=200 | language=en}}</ref> {{Clear}}

==References== {{reflist}} {{Benton County, Indiana}}

Category:Unincorporated communities in Benton County, Indiana Category:Unincorporated communities in Indiana

Atkinson, Indiana

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