Samuel Benton was Granville County's representative to the State Assembly in 1761, when he purchased 1000 acres of land and built a plantation home known as "Oxford." In 1764, the Assembly ordered that this area be known as the county seat and Benton gave one acre of land where the courthouse was to be built. Not until 1811 did the Assembly authorize the county to buy 50 acres around the courthouse from Thomas Littlejohn and began to lay out the town, selling lots at public auction in 1812, and incorporating the town in 1816. Oxford had become a sophisticated town and was famous as a seat of learning by the creation of several academies and colleges. By the 1980s, there were 38 major manufacturing industries in the county, principally around Oxford and Creedmoor.