24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Benson, PA

Benson is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, but almost nobody calls it that — locals know the town as Hollsopple, which is also its official U.S. Postal Service name, with ZIP code 15935.

The town was laid out by Emanuel Eash in 1880 under the name Bethel, and its first dwelling house was built that same year by Hiram H. Boyts.

The community grew up around the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which established Bethel Station in 1881 on its Somerset & Cambria Branch along the Stonycreek River.

A post office was established in 1881 under the name Holsoppel, with storekeeper Tobias Mishler as the first postmaster.

The portion of the community on the south side of the Stonycreek River, in Paint Township, was incorporated as Benson borough in 1892 and named for Samuel Benson, who built the second Somerset County Courthouse; the first burgess was William W. Wiand.

In January 1903, a fire that started in the Farmers' Milling Company mill destroyed almost every business house in Benson while the town slept.

Coal mining began around Benson about 1900, and by 1917 the Victor Mining Company had developed its Haws No. 1 and No. 3 mines with worker housing in the community.

The 2020 census counted about 185 residents in Benson borough, and at the 2000 census its 194 residents lived in just 76 households.

Benson covers only about a third of a square mile in a bend of the Stonycreek River, and it is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania metropolitan statistical area.