Arthur W. Benson (c.1798–1889) was a president of Brooklyn Gas Light who developed the New York City suburbs of Bensonhurst and Montauk.
[citation needed] He began buying farmland that was formerly owned by the Polhemuses family in 1835.
Between 1830 and 1850 Benson divided the farmland into lots that were sold in the newly created suburb of Bensonhurst.
[citation needed] The transaction cleared the way for Austin Corbin to bring the Long Island Rail Road to Montauk with the first train pulling on December 17, 1895.
Tick Hall, one of the houses owned by television personality Dick Cavett, was destroyed by a 1997 fire.