The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗In 1887, the Kansas Midland Railway was built from Wichita to Ellsworth, a distance of 107 miles, and the building of this line bisected Eagle Township and established a depot and town on section 11, Eagle Township. The line was purchased outright by The Frisco on October 1, 1900. The Frisco was merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1980, later it abandoned the line in 1994.
Bentley was laid out in 1888. It is named in honor of the city's founder Orsemus Hills Bentley, a railroad official from Wichita.
The first post office in Bentley was established in March 1888.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Start Bentley’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bentley’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Bentley, decade by decade
2000
Nothing in Bentley is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Bentley has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Sedgwick Downtown Historic District in Sedgwick, 5.3 miles away.
Bentley and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.
Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.