Benton

Formed March 8, 1905 (37^th county)

Benton County (206,875), Prosser (6,103), Kennewick (83,929)                

The brown brick Classical Revival structure was erected in 1926 to replace a 1905 wooden building.  It is located on Market Street at Dudley Avenue.  Washington State Highway 22 passes eight blocks to the southeast of the courthouse.  Link & Rasquil provided the designs.  The building was enlarged in 1957 and 1987.  There is a 2003 Justice Center and a 1979 Juvenile Justice Center both in Kennewick to augment the courthouse.  The county was established on March 8, 1905 from Klickitat County as the 37^th county with Prosser as the only county seat.  It is named for Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton.  Prosser was named for settler William Ferrand Prosser. 

Benton County government consists of a sheriff and 3 Commissioners.  Seven Superior Court Judges serve Benton and Franklin counties and Six District Court Judges serve Benton County.  The county is in the southern part of Washington on the border with Oregon.  The Columbia River forms its northern, eastern, and southern borders.  Seattle, Washington is northwest and Spokane, Washington is northeast of the county.  The county center is 22 miles East-Northeast of Prosser nearer Benton City.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Grant, Franklin, and Walla Walla counties and Oregon and Klickitat and Yakima counties. 

The area of the county is 1700 square miles.  It is 22 out of 39 in the state.  It ranks 10 out of 39 in population in the state.  It has a density of 121.7 persons per square mile making it 9 out of 39 in the state.  Benton County has 82.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 82 enters the county from the northwest, Yakima County, and exits to the south, Oregon.  United States Highway 12 comes from Franklin County, east, and joins Interstate Highway 82 into Yakima County, west.  United States Highway 395 comes from the east, Franklin County, and joins Interstate Highway 82 into Oregon.  The county shape resembles a bear head facing east.  Prosser is located near the western border of the county.  Kennewick is on the eastern border of the county.  Prosser is the county seat and Kennewick is the largest city.  Prosser is 3.0% of the county population while Kennewick is 40.6% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced PROS-SER.  The largest city is pronounced KEN-NE-WIK.  This county is in the Kennewick-Pasco-Richland Metropolitan Statistical Area.