In the early days the county schools were set up to be within walking distance to the students. The land for these schools was often donated by local land owners, making it easier for their own children to have a school close to their home. This school was located on the south side of the land owned by Joshua Vickers Milhous and close to what is now Bethel Cemetery. It was to the north and west of the little town of Benville. When the Jefferson Proving Ground took over it included Benville and displaced its residents. Along with the human toll it took on the residents it also took the history of people who had settled in the area as early as 1816. This neighborhood along the Jennings/Ripley county line was active in the Underground Railroad with a station being located not far from Benville. Some of the activity was remembered and documented by Francis Marion Merrell but little else of that history remains.

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