Bennington was platted in 1878. More than 200 people lived there within three years. The city name comes from one of two sources. A paper written on the history of Bennington says that Bennington is an Indian name, and it means "place of fine trees." The same paper also says that co-city creator George R. Parker gave the town its name after Bennington, Vermont. The Solomon Valley Railroad, part of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, reached Bennington in 1878.