History of Bellevue as seen at Durham History Museum

 This information is provided at the museum with regards to Bellevue.

The original trading post that was on the river then but not now

County is named for Peter Sarpy

Standing Bear, Ponca Chief

Magazine Article Review: Where Bellevue Began

 Where Bellevue Began: A Bluff-top trading post on the Missouri became Nebraska's oldest permanent community by Ron Soodalter with Chris Amundson, Nebraska Life Magazine, Flagship Publishing Inc., Timnath CO, March/April 2026, pp 24-29.

Lewis and Clark came through the Bellevue area in 1804.  In 1822 Joshua Pilcher built a trading post above the Missouri River in what would become Bellevue.  From this location it commanded a way to send goods up the Missouri, and also the Platte River which was a few miles to the south.  It was a trading post and a place where furs could be dried and prepared for market.  It became the hub for traders, company men and hunters.  Pawnee, Otoe and Omaha traded there.  Beaver built the Missouri Fur Company.  Beaver skin was durable, water proof, and well suited for hats.  The trading post supported the annual rendezvous which was to the west.  Goods would leave from Bellevue and then at the rendezvous they would be sold and traded, and beaver skin would come back to the trading post.  Bellevue would keep the trade moving as a hub for the business in St. Louis.  The trade business could be dangerous.  In 1823 fourteen men were killed and eleven wounded in South Dakota n the Missouri.  Pilcher also learned the same lesson in 1823.  Blackfeet attacked a caravan along the Yellowstone River and killed seven men.  This resulted in a loss of roerty of $15,000, valued today at $467,000.

The Pilcher site faltered, but Lucien Fontenelle purchased it in 1828.   By this time it had grown beyond a trading post.  It included separate lodgings for Otoe and Omaha.  It had smith shops, and a counsel meeting area and lodging for interpreters.  Karl Bodmer made a rendering of the trading post and surrounding buildings. Lucien Fontenele would sell the buildings to the federal government and it became the Indian agency.  The area continued to grow.  1855 Bellevue incorporated as a city.  1856 the first church still standing in Nebraska was built.  The major settlements located south of the old trading post.  This encroachment of people lead to the removal of Native American people to reservation.  The Omaha reservation is further north on the Missouri, the Pawnee in Oklahoma and the Otoe to the Nebraska/Kansas border but then again moved to Oklahoma.  Peter Sarpy also arrived and established a ferry at Bellevue as well as trading posts on both sides of the river.  

First Nebraska Territory Murder Was by a Doctor

 In the Nebraska Life Magazine for March April 2026 there is a note about a murder in Bellevue.  Dr Charles Henry was a physician and a land speculator in Bellevue in 1855.  He argued with George Hollister about property lines.  Henry shot him dead.  It seemed a clear case and he was arrested and confined in the blacksmith shop.  He was protected by guards form a lynch mob.  Cholera broke out about this time.  Many needed treated and Dr. Henry was lead form home to home to provide treatment.  He was under guard and providing treatment.  When his case came before the grand jury there were enough on the jury he had treated, and others as character witnesses the he was never convicted.  This was the first arrest for murder in the new Nebraska Territory.

There were two grand juries convened, and both failed to indict.  Another possible reason for this is there were groups of land speculators who were protecting their own.  However the story of the patients refusing to indict is a good one.  Henry relocated to Omaha where he became a prominent citizen and supporter of the Union in the Civil War.

Fort Crook; Now Offutt Air Force Base

 Fort Crook was the original name of the fort constructed south of Bellevue to replace fort Omaha in North Omaha.  It was named for General George Crook who had been the commander at Fort Omaha.  I took some pictures of the old for from the Fort Crook days.  There was a model in the Sarpy County History museum.  The fort was planned and announced in 1888 but construction did not begin until 1894.  Officers quarters were built on the west side of the parade grounds and the private quarters opposite on the east.  Troops began to arrive in 1896.  1920-24 the fort added an airfield and the fort was renamed Offutt for a WWI pilot named Lieutenant Jared Offutt.  During WWII the base became a large manufacturing plant for B-26 and B-29 bombers.  After WWII it housed the Strategic Air Command.

parade grounds

sergeant's row

Bob Gibson's Home in Bellevue

 Bob Gibson was one of the greatest baseball players ever.  He was a teo-time Cy Young Award winner, Two-tim World Series champion and the baseball MVP one year.  He is in the Hall of Fame.  He grew up in South Omaha.  After he retired from baseball he lived in Bellevue Nebraska.  He passed away in 2020.  His home recently changed owners and there are still pictures on line.

I snapped a couple upon driving past.

Old Bellevue University in Bellevue

 There have been two Bellevue Universities.  The first was on Elk Hill in Bellevue close to the downtown area.  The second is at its current location close to Fort Crook and Harvel.  When the college was being build the remains of Big Elk were remove and moved to Bellevue Cemetery.  The tornado of 1908 hit the college and caused significant damage to several of the buildings.  After this is never really recovered and closed a few yeas later.  It served veterans after WWI and then was used as housing during WWII in support of the plane factory at Offutt.  

Parking where the University use to be.

Bellevue College
On October 16, 1880, this Presbyterian Liberal Arts College was organized, first classes were held September 10, 1883 with 26 students.  The original college contained 264 acres.  200 acres were sold in 1920 to the St. Columban's seminary.  In 1900, college enrollment was over 200 students under the leadership of Rev. David R. Kerr.  In 1910 The Presbyterian Church withdrew its support and the college became known as University of Omaha Bellevue.  The college had hopes of leading theological institution, but suffered a lack of financial support forcing it to close in 1919.  Its assets and records were given to Hastings College, Nebraska.  The building were latter used to educate World War I veterans.

Looking towards Columban Mission which use to be part of the college.

looking towards Missouri River

screen shot of map shows three buildings from old Bellevue University.  However I think they have now been torn down.  

Book Review: Romance of a Village: Story of Bellevue

 Romance of a Village: Story of Bellevue: The first permanent continuous settlement in Nebraska by William J. Shallcross, Centennial Souvenir Edition, Roncka Brothers Printers, Omaha, Nebraska, 1954.

This book is limited by when it was published, but it does provide some interesting information about the history of Omaha up until Offutt was created as the Strategic Air Command.  It starts with the Lewis and Clark expedition, and then continues onto early trading posts and trapping.  Manuel Lisa gave the area its name because of the view he observed long ago.  Peter Sarpy was also an early trade post operator but after Lucien Fontanelle.  Sarpy also ran a ferry.  He talks about relationships with the Omaha Indians, Chief Big Elk.  Bellevue had an early Indian agency.  

Early visits to Bellevue included Prince Maximilian and Karl Bodmer the artists.  Also Friederich Kurz the Swiss artist visited the area.  Mormons came through the Bellevue area in 1846, and gold miners soon after.  There was also a significant missionary effort to the Native Americans from the Baptists and Presbyterians.  This ended when the Omaha left to their permanent reservation in 1856.  

Bellevue could be considered the first territorial capitol, located at the mission; but the governor lived only one day after being sworn in.  The people of Council Bluffs and the Lieutenant Governor preferred the Omaha area.  So Bellevue missed out on the capital, and a few years later would also missed out on the railroad and the first bridge over the Missouri.  In missing the bridge this was partly because flooding had wiped out the footing on the Iowa side opposite Bellevue.  The bone tossed to Bellevue was that of the county seat, when Douglass county was divided and Sarpy County made.  However this was given to Papillion to create a more central location.  

Bellevue lost out on much, but began to establish itself as an education site with Bellevue University, a Christian University.  However after the tornado of 1908, the school never really recovered and closed.  After this the town of Bellevue struggled with few residents, until WWII.  At this time a bomber manufacturing plant was established at Fort Crook.  This added greatly to the population of the area, and was responsible for the creation of a downtown commercial area on Mission.  However it was feared at the end of the war the city would dry up.  This was adverted when the federal governemnt decided to place the SAC at the location of the old plant and Offutt was created from Fort Crook.

As mentioned this history is limited by its publication date.  Much more history and expansion has taken place since the 1950s and Bellevue is now the third largest city in Nebraska.  

Book Review: Rising Above: Nebraska and Western Iowa's Historic 2019 Floods

 Rising Above: Nebraska and Western Iowa's Historic 2019 Floods, BH Media Group, Omaha World Herald, Omaha, Nebraska, 2020.

There was a prediction that their could be some flooding.  But there were still doubts.  However no one predicted the severity of the flooding.  The combination rising rivers, ice in the rivers, combined with a failed dam, resulted in catastrophic flooding.   The frozen ground, and high rainfall lead to flooding through much of the state.  Four Nebraskans died in the flooding, but there was over a billion dollars in property loss.  Washed out and flooded roads, many towns were isolated due to flooded roads.  Many had difficulty getting to work.  Offutt base was flooded here in Bellevue.  Also the park close to the river, American Heroes Park area was flooded.  The Paradise Lakes residential neighborhood was flooded.

Other communities had it worse.  The Niobrara River flooded.  The Elkhorn River flooded.  The Loup River flooded.  Towns in 29 Nebraska counties evacuated.  Iowa was not spared, especially those communities close to the Missouri River.  Spencer Dam on the Niobrara River failed releasing an eleven foot wall of water.  The ice in the river made it seem a glacier as it ripped away everything in its path.  

But the title of the book, "Rising Above," has another meaning.  This also tells the story of how people banned together and helped each other.  Gifford Farm in Bellevue was devastated, with many animals put at risk.  Many people rose to the occasion to help.  Such was the case all over the state.  It is hard to comprehend that this was only a few years ago.  I have only lived in Nebraska a short time, but neighbors went through this flooding.  

This book tells a very important story, with pictures from all over the state.  It tells of businesses lost, or crippled.  Farms destroyed.  Too much sand on the soil from the flooding river.  But it also tells stories of resilience.  People running their business without the normal tools that washed away, and getting by the best they could.  

Welcome to Omaha/Bellevue: Bellevue Trail: Fontenelle Forest History Trail

 Sheri and I on a Tuesday after it had been raining for a few days took the history trail.  This trail starts at Wakonda and makes a loop, passing close to the railroad tracks which marks where the Missouri ran during the time of the trading posts/ Indian agency and Indian lodges in the area.  The Indian agency took the place of the trading post. The hike for us was very slippery with mud, especially the closer we got to the tracks as it was mostly down hill until then.  Sometimes we would slide on the mud, but mostly kept to the leaves which provided some traction.  It was actually a fun trail.  We saw four deer as they bounded away.  We saw birds and plants, but being winter the foliage didn't have leaves.

Mushroom

not sure

This flattened are was close to the gravesites and likely where the trading post was located.

The base is made with the foundation stones from the trading post

map of the Fontenelle trails.  The history trail is G, at the bottom of the map

looking toward Iowa

some abandoned construction

train track is former riverbank

look at Missouri River

This trail warrants another hike when the conditions are better.  A sign said there are old earth lodges in the area which we did not notice.

History of Bellevue/Fontenelle as per Fontenelle Forest Center

 This displays tells the history of the Bdellevue area from 1000 through 1851.  It describes the Native Americans, and the trading and fur period.  It includes the esta blishment of an Indian agency in Bellevue.