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Benton County
Benton County was created from Polk County by an act of the Provisional Government of Oregon in 1847.

It is one of seven counties in the United States to be named after Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, a longtime advocate of the development of the Oregon Territory. The county was created out of an area originally inhabited by the Klickitat Indians, who rented it from the Calapooia Indians for use as hunting grounds. At that time, the boundaries began at the intersection of Polk County and the Willamette River, ran as far south as the California border and as far west as the Pacific Ocean. Later, portions of Benton County were taken to form Coos, Curry, Douglas, Jackson, Josephine, Lane and Lincoln Counties, leaving it in its present form with 679 square miles of land area. [Source: Oregon Blue Book]

At the time of its formation, the county included all the country west of the Willamette River, south of Polk County and running all the way to the California border in the south and the Pacific Ocean in the west.
The city of Marysville, later renamed Corvallis, was made the county seat in 1851. The city briefly was the capital of Oregon.
In 1862 Corvallis became the site of the Oregon State Agricultural College, known today as Oregon State University.

Cities
Adair Village * Albany (part) * Corvallis * Monroe * Philomath

Census-designated places
Alpine * Alsea * Bellfountain * Blodgett * Kings Valley * Summit

Unincorporated Communities
Alder * Dawson * Dry Creek * Flynn * Glenbrook * Greenberry * Harris * Hoskins * Lewisburg * Noon * Wren