Benton Harbor

History

Benton Harbor was founded by Henry C. Morton, Sterne Brunson, and Charles Hull, who all now have or have had schools named after them. It was mainly wetlands bordered by the Paw Paw River, through which a canal was built, hence the "harbor" in the city's name. In 1860, the village was laid out by Brunson, Morton, Hull and others, and given the name Brunson Harbor. Brunson, Morton, and Hull also donated land and solicited subscriptions for construction of the canal, which was completed in 1862. It had long been recognized that a canal would be crucial to the town's development, both to drain the marsh and to provide a berthing area for ships. The canal, originally wide but expanded to in 1868, led to the town's becoming a shipping and manufacturing center for the area. The eastern end of the canal was deemed non-navigable in 1937 and most of the rest was in 1963. In 1865, the settlement's name was changed to Benton Harbor in honor of Thomas Hart Benton, a Missouri Senator who helped Michigan achieve statehood. In 1891, Benton Harbor was incorporated as a city. Benton Harbor's retail establishments started relocating outside of the city starting in the 1950s, primarily to the nearby Fairplain Plaza which opened in 1958, and the city experienced an economic downturn between 1970 and 1985, partly due to The Orchards Mall nearby which opened in 1979. The House of David religious group was founded there and once ran a local amusement park. Benton Harbor has had two major riots, one in 1966 and one in 2003, with smaller ones occurring in 1960, 1967, and 1990. On August 30, 1966, a riot began after a meeting discussing recreational facilities and police relations with respect to black residents. During the riot, a black 18-year-old named Cecil Hunt was killed in a…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and is water. Benton Harbor has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfa) that has very warm summers for the type and also less cold winters than many climates of the classification. Due to lake-effect snow there is very high snowfall relative to precipitation in winter, but far lower than some locations that are farther north in the state. Summer high temperatures range from from June to August, but the apparent heat is normally moderated by mild nights.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,325
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  6,218
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  5,951
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,997
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  4,959
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,930
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,791
• Ring-billed Gull

  Larus delawarensis Ord, 1815 · Aves
  4,773

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2026-07-08
  21 km ENE of Kenilworth, Illinois
• M 4.2 — 2015-05-02
  5 km S of Galesburg, Michigan
• M 3 — 2012-01-26
  5 km NE of Topeka, Indiana