In 1905, the St. Joseph Board of Education established a high school in South St. Joseph. For many years this area was known as Skeeterville because parts of the South Side were marshy since the area was near the river bottoms. Although requests had been made for a high school to be established there, school authorities felt that the people would not send their children to high school. Until Benton was established, there were no ties to bind the people of the different districts. When Benton was organized it was observed that Benton High School … had the effect of bringing the families of different parts [of the South Side] into a closer relationship. The children became acquainted through their classes at school and their parents began to visit back and forth … . The South Side present[ed] a solid front in nearly every project of public nature which [came] up, and [was] getting its share of improvements, too. Fortified with this support, the first class of Benton High School set forth determined to succeed-the acorn from which the might oak has grown