Population: 45,599

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Historic Bellevueans

   Manuel Lesa
   Mr. Dunbar
   Mr. Ellis
   Gen. Peter A. Sarpy
   Maj.  Barrow
   Col.  Stephen Decatur
   Hiram Bennett
   Isaiah N. Bennett
   George Nepner
   William R. English
   James M. Galewood
   George T. Turner
   P. J. McMahon
   A. W. Hollister
   A. C. Ford
   Francis Burt
   D. E. Reed
   Rev.  Edward McKinney
   Rev.  Mr. Hamilton
   J. Sterling Morton

Omaha & Neighbors

    Omaha
    Bellevue
    Council Bluffs
    Dundee
    Florence
    Papillion
    Plattsmouth
    Lincoln
    Sioux City
    Sioux Falls
    Columbus
    Grand Island
    Kearney
    Des Moines
    Ames
    Davenport
    Cedar Rapids
    Iowa City
    North Platte
    Sidney
    Scottsbluff
    Kansas City
    St. Louis

Bellevue is the oldest United States settlement west of the Missouri River.*  The American Fur Company established a fur trading post in the present day Bellevue area in 1810 and placed Francis Deroin there to head the post.  Mr. Deroin was succeeded by Joseph Roubideaux, commonly known as "Old Joe", who in turn moved on to form St. Joseph, Missouri.  John Cabanné* took over in 1816 and continued until 1823/1824 when General Peter A. Sarpy took over the post.  Of course, Mr. Sarpy is where the county got its name.

All of Sarpy County was once the lower half of Douglas County.  On February 1^st, 1857, Douglas County was divided to form Sarpy County.

In 1823, the Indian agency that had previously been established at Ft. Calhoun* was moved to Bellevue and known in Government reports as the "Council Bluffs Indian Agency at Bellevue"  The agency on the Iowa side being the Council Bluffs Sub-Agency.*

In April 1846, the initial Mormon exodus arrived on the Iowa side of the Missouri north of the Bellevue area (Grand Encampment) led by Brigham Young.  Finding the only ferry to be to the south near Bellevue, church leaders met with the owner Peter Sarpy and discussed the need for a larger ferry.  Together, they agreed to jointly built a new ferry near where the Mormons were camped.*

In 1849, Bellevue opened its first school.

In 1852, a town company was organized at Bellevue but nothing more developed at the time (no officers were elected).

The first newspaper printed in Nebraska, the Nebraska Palladium and Platte Valley Advocate, was printed in Bellevue In 1854.

In 1864, the Bellevue Town Company was organized with P. A. Sarpy, Stephen Decatur, Hiram P. Bennett, George Hapner, James M. Gatewood, George F. Turner, P.J. McMahon, A. W. Hollister and A. C. Ford as proprietors.  A town was born.

The First Wedding. 

As reported by the History of Nebraska, Volume I (1882); The first wedding in Bellevue was recorded in 1849 between Lewis Saunsausee, a half breed, and a Mormon woman.  The Rev. Mr. Kinney* for some reason refused to tie the nuptials, and Orson Hyde, then Elder of the Mormon church at Kanesville, was applied to and promised to perform the ceremony.  For some reason, he failed to appear and another Mormon, named Smith living on the Iowa side was substituted.  This marriage could hardly have been registered in Heaven, for, in 1857, Saunsaunsee* was living in the Blackbird Hills, and his fair Rebecca had become one of Brigham Young's numerous wives.

City of Bellevue
Chamber of Commerce

Read
    Bellevue Attractions
    How Bellevue got its name
    How Bellevue lost the Territorial Capitol
    How Bellevue lost the County Seat.