Benton is a city located in the state of Illinois within the United States. It serves as the county seat for Franklin County, which was divided in half in 1839 and established its permanent seat at the site that would become the city of Benton.
The city was named after Thomas Hart Benton, a senator from Missouri. Originally organized as a village in 1841 on twenty acres of donated land, it officially became a city in 1902 and operates under a mayor/commissioner form of government. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 6,709.