Nebraska Historical Marker: Bellevue

Location

210 West Mission Ave, (inside Bellevue City Hall) Bellevue, Sarpy County, Nebraska

View this marker's location 41.136472, -95.896333

View a map of all Nebraska historical markers, Browse Historical Marker Map

Marker Text

Bellevue, gateway to the upper Missouri and the fur trade empire, is the oldest continuous settlement in Nebraska. This town was born, became important, almost died, and now in the 20th century, has been revitalized.

Fur traders dealing with the Omaha, Ponca, Oto, and Pawnee, first gave it life. Manuel Lisa probably named it for the beautiful view at the junction of the Platte and Missouri Valleys.

In 1823, an Indian Agency was established in Bellevue. Here and at the Peter Sarpy fur trading post travelers such as Prince Maximilian, Carl Bodmer, George Catlin, and John C. Fremont, were welcomed. By 1846 Bellevue was a steamboat landing and the site of an important Indian Mission. Here Francis Burt, the first territorial governor, arrived in 1854, and the first territorial newspaper, the Nebraska Palladium, was published.

When the territorial capital was located at Omaha, and the Pacific Railroad was routed to the north, Bellevue faded. In the 1940's the town was rejuvenated when thousands of military personnel, who man the Strategic Air Command center of defense for the western world, made Bellevue their home.

Bibliography

Elton A. Perkey, “Perkey’s Nebraska Place Names” (1995), Nebraska State Historical Society

Richard E Jensen, “Bellevue: The First Twenty Years,” Nebraska History 56 (1975): 339-374

Jerold Simmons, "Public Leadership in a World War II Boom Town: Bellevue, Nebraska," Nebraska History 65 (1984): 484-499

Marker program

See Nebraska Historical Marker Program for more information.