Our Founder

Robert Benton

Robert “Bob” Benton was born and raised in the river bottoms of rural Scott County, Illinois. He remembers high school as being his first exposure to running water and inside bathrooms. After high school, Bob put himself through college and graduated from the University of Illinois in 1963. He recalls those college years as “challenging and rewarding.”

After graduating from college, he began his engineering career with Casler & Associates in Jacksonville, Illinois. Bob later worked for City Water Light & Power in Springfield, Illinois, as Chief Water Engineer and Distribution Superintendent. Soon after he became the Superintendent of the Water Department.

Bob’s first project as a self-employed engineer was the result of a call from Ed Haggard, who was Winchester’s Water Superintendent. Bob prepared a plan and State permit application for adding fluoride at the Winchester water plant. He worked out of his home basement office in Springfield. The next project was designing and securing the State permit, and bidding the improvements to Winchester’s wastewater treatment facilities. This was the project that started Benton & Associates, Inc.