Bench, Idaho
{{Short description| Unincorporated community in the state of Idaho, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name = Bench, Idaho
|settlement_type = Unincorporated community
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|pushpin_map = Idaho#USA
|subdivision_type = Country
|subdivision_name = United States
|subdivision_type1 = State
|subdivision_name1 = Idaho
|subdivision_type2 = County
|subdivision_name2 = Caribou
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|unit_pref = Imperial
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|timezone = Mountain (MST)
|utc_offset = -7
|timezone_DST = MDT
|utc_offset_DST = -6
|elevation_ft = 5489
|coordinates = {{coord|42|30|13|N|111|40|49|W|region:US-ID_source:GNIS-enwiki|display=inline,title}}
|postal_code_type = ZIP code
|postal_code =
|area_codes = 208, 986
|blank_name = GNIS feature ID
|blank_info = 396102{{GNIS|396102}}
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Bench is an unincorporated community in Caribou County, in the U.S. state of Idaho.
Geography
Bench is located along Niter-Bench Road.
History
File:Southern Bannock County, Idaho 1909.png The community of Bench is part of the Gem Valley, an area that also includes the communities of Grace, Turner, Central, Lund, Bancroft, and Niter.{{Cite book |last=McCarthy |first=Max R. |url=https://reddcenter.byu.edu/Plugins/FileManager/Files/Publications/The%20Last%20Chance%20Canal%20Company.pdf |title=The Last Chance Canal Company |publisher=Brigham Young University |year=1987 |isbn=0-941214-53-2 |location=Provo, UT |pages=23, 38, 42 |access-date=2021-07-08 |archive-date=2021-07-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709185800/https://reddcenter.byu.edu/Plugins/FileManager/Files/Publications/The%20Last%20Chance%20Canal%20Company.pdf |url-status=live }}
The first settlers in the area were the Collins, Christiansen, and Hubbard families, who settled the place in 1877. These were the only three families until about 1890. Logging was a major industry in the community, and at that time there were two sawmills: one operated by Joe Tolman and one operated by Charles Hubbard.
A post office called Bench was established in 1902, and remained in operation until 1923.{{Cite web |title=Post Offices |url=https://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=ID&county=Caribou |accessdate=January 19, 2018 |archive-date=January 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121071407/https://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=ID&county=Caribou |url-status=live }} The community was named for a prominent landform near the original town site, commonly referred to as a "bench".{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L7M3AQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA13 |title=The Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine, Volumes 9-10 |year=1918 |page=13}} The "settlers attempted dry farming with little success"; the Bench Canal Company was formed to provide irrigation to the area. The Bench Canal, a 27-mile-long irrigation system, received water in July 1902, but was not completed until October 1919, due to the scarcity of labor caused by servicemen entering World War I.
In 1906, Bench was on the Soda Springs-Lago stagecoach line, which connected Grace, Niter, and Bench to the community of Soda Springs,{{Cite news|work=Soda Springs Chieftain| date=November 8, 1906 |page=2 |place=Soda Springs, Idaho|title=Railroad and Stage Time Tables }} which would in 1919 become the county seat of Caribou County. Bench's population was 75 in 1909.{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Davis' New Commercial Encyclopedia: Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, the Pacific Northwest |publisher=Ellis A. Davis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZyRPAAAAYAAJ |last=Davis |first=Ellis A. |date=1909 |page=189 |language=en}}
In addition to the post office, a number of businesses operated in Bench. In the early 1900s, Bench's sawmill was owned by the Tolman family.{{Cite news| title=Rozilla Tolman |work=Preston Citizen |date=January 4, 1968 |page=5 |place=Preston, Idaho}} The Bench grade school was located one half mile west of the crossroads.{{Cite book |title=Gems of Our Valley: A Written and Pictorial History of Gem Valley — Located in Southeastern Idaho Along the Bear River 1811-1977 and the People Who Have Lived There |pages=50–55 |author=Simmons, Vivian and Varley, Ruth| publisher=Grace Literary Club |location=Grace, ID|year=1977}}
The Bench chapel, a Mormon church, was dedicated in 1936.
Bench is closely associated with the nearby community of Niter; the two communities, separated by the Bench Canal, shared a newspaper column, titled "Niter-Bench", in the Caribou County Sun from 1957{{Cite news |date=December 5, 1957 |title=Niter-Bench |newspaper=Caribou County Sun |location=Soda Springs, Idaho}} to 1977.{{Cite news |date=December 15, 1977 |title=Niter-Bench |newspaper=Caribou County Sun |location=Soda Springs, Idaho}}
The Bench Ward Chapel was sold in 1955, after the ward was consolidated with the nearby Williams ward.
Bench regulated kissing on Sunday, requiring the participants to "'pause for breath' between each kiss."{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81615071/kissing-in-bench-idaho/ |title=Banking, Like Kissing, Is Better Left Unregulated |last=Cohen |first=Laurence D. |date=February 22, 1998 |newspaper=Hartford Courant |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=July 17, 2021 |archive-date=July 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717061815/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81615071/kissing-in-bench-idaho/ |url-status=live }} {{open access}}
See also
{{Portal|Idaho}}