The post office was established July 26, 1880 with John Russ serving as postmaster. However, the Wells Fargo Station was not established until 1885.
The history of the area goes back much further. A Spanish missionary, Father Kino brought Spanish culture to the San Pedro Valley in 1692. A tribe of Pima Indians called the Sobaipuri who had dwelt there for several hundred years inhabited the valley, previously visited by Fray Marcos De Niza in 1539. In addition to bringing Christianity to the Sobaipuri Indians, Father Kino brought droves of cattle and initiated a series of "rancherias" where the Indian and Spanish settlers raised cattle and grew corn, wheat, barley, figs and grapes. The San Pedro River, then called San Jorge de Terrenate, flowed freely and produced a lush river valley. For almost 100 years the Sobaipurl served the Spanish by buffering the attacks of the hostile Apaches.
Weakened from warfare and epidemics, the Sobaipuri, abandoned the villages to the north such as Tres Alamos. Spanish assistance in the form of soldiers and missionaries dwindled as time passed. The local Indians gave up more of the valley to the Apache tribes. by 1762.
In 1828, by official decree of the government of Mexico, all of the settlements of Arizona were abandoned. Only ruined villages, ranches and wild droves of cattle remained in the San Pedro Valley.
It was with the coming of the Anglo-Americans in the 1850’s that civilization returned to the area that became Benson Arizona.
