In 1853, a Presbyterian minister named A. G. Lansing established Mount Pleasant Mission Station near present-day Matoy in the Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. Lansing turned the mission operation over to Rev. Charles C. Copeland, who moved the mission a few miles farther south because the original site was in a boggy and remote location that was unhealthy. Copeland renamed the mission Bennington Mission Station, honoring his home town of Bennington, Vermont. A post office was established in 1873, but closed in 1878. It was reestablished in 1884. The peak population during this period was 45 people.