Bensonville
Encyclopedia
Bensonville is the capital city of Montserrado County
, Liberia
. The capital of Liberia, Monrovia
, is also located in Montserrado County. Bensonville is located 20 miles from Monrovia. It is a commercial center for the surrounding agricultural area.
It was the birthplace of William R. Tolbert, Jr.
, the 20th president of Liberia. Before he was killed in a coup in 1980, Tolbert had planned to make Bensonville the new capital city of Liberia.
Prior to the Liberian Civil War
, Bensonville's industrial activity included producing milled rice, sawn wood, soap, plastics, paints, furniture and fixtures, cement blocks, oils, processed fish, and confections.
Montserrado County
Montserrado County is a county in the northwestern portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has four districts. Bensonville serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring , the smallest...
, Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
. The capital of Liberia, Monrovia
Monrovia
Monrovia is the capital city of the West African nation of Liberia. Located on the Atlantic Coast at Cape Mesurado, it lies geographically within Montserrado County, but is administered separately...
, is also located in Montserrado County. Bensonville is located 20 miles from Monrovia. It is a commercial center for the surrounding agricultural area.
It was the birthplace of William R. Tolbert, Jr.
William R. Tolbert, Jr.
William Richard Tolbert, Jr. was the 20th President of Liberia from 1971 to 1980.Trained as a civil servant, he entered the country's House of Representatives in 1955 for the True Whig Party, then the only established party in the country...
, the 20th president of Liberia. Before he was killed in a coup in 1980, Tolbert had planned to make Bensonville the new capital city of Liberia.
Prior to the Liberian Civil War
Liberian Civil War
The First Liberian Civil War was an internal conflict in Liberia running from 1989 until 1996. The conflict killed over 200,000 people and eventually led to the involvement the Economic Community of West African States and of the United Nations...
, Bensonville's industrial activity included producing milled rice, sawn wood, soap, plastics, paints, furniture and fixtures, cement blocks, oils, processed fish, and confections.