Benge is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Adams County, Washington, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Because it is not tracked by the U.S. Census, a Census population estimate is not available. Benge is assigned the ZIP code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 99105. The town is serviced by the Benge School District, and downtown Benge contains Benge Elementary School.

As of the 2000 census

United States Census, 2000

The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

, the Benge ZIP code (99105) had a population of 57 persons, with 33 housing units. The median household income

Median household income

The median household income is commonly used to generate data about geographic areas and divides households into two equal segments with the first half of households earning less than the median household income and the other half earning more...

 was $37,500.

History

The Mullan Military Road

Mullan Road

Mullan Road was the first wagon road to cross the Rocky Mountains to the Inland of the Pacific Northwest. It was built by US Army Lieut. John Mullan between the spring of 1859 and summer 1860. It led from Fort Benton, Montana, the navigational head of the Missouri River to Fort Walla Walla,...

, started in 1859 by Lieutenant John Mullan

John Mullan (road builder)

-Biography:Mullan was born in Norfolk, Virginia and graduated from West Point in 1852. He became a member of Isaac Stevens's party to explore the newly-created Washington Territory. Mullan was placed in charge of selecting a wagon route between Fort Benton and Fort Walla Walla...

, connected the upper navigable Missouri River

Missouri River

The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...

 with the Columbia River

Columbia River

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...

. This 624-mile road, which passed through what was later to become the town of Benge, was completed in 1862 at a cost of $280,000. The Benge section of the road was completed May 22, 1861; the wagon ruts were still visible in 2008 just northeast of town at the site of the First Benge School. Although built as a military road, it was used by civilians for both travelers and cargo transport until the Northern Pacific Railroad was completed in 1883.

The town is named after Frank H. Benge, who represented Adams County in the State Legislature in 1904. Benge and his wife donated the land upon which the town site was platted on May 13, 1907.

Frank & Mary Crouch Benge and daughters came to Adams County in 1892. They had lived on the current site of Benge for 15 years when the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway

Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway

The Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway was a United States-based railroad incorporated in 1905. It was a joint venture by the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway to build a railroad along the north bank of the Columbia River....

surveyed the rail line to pass right through their ranch house. The Benges were paid $5,000 to move their house. They built an 11 room house with the rock excavated from a nearby rail cut. The house became a boarding house and served as a community center for a number of years.