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History · Belle Fontaine

Half of Belle Fontaine’s homes were built after 1991

Most of Belle Fontaine was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1991. Below: maps from 1921 on.

0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Belle Fontaine’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Belle Fontaine are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19215 editions of the USGS map, 1921 to 1985. Watch Belle Fontaine change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Belle Fontaine’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Belle Fontaine’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Belle Fontaine on the map, 1921 to 1985

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Belle Fontaine. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Belle Fontaine on the 1921 USGS mapBelle Fontaine on the 1941 USGS mapBelle Fontaine on the 1956 USGS mapBelle Fontaine on the 1974 USGS mapBelle Fontaine on the 1985 USGS map1921Delchamps sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Belle Fontaine.

The story so far

Belle Fontaine, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Belle Fontaine yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Belle Fontaine (; French: [bɛl fɔ̃ˈtɛn] ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mobile County, Alabama, United States, on the western shore of Mobile Bay. It is located south of the city of Mobile, along the stretch of shore between the Deer River and the Fowl River. As of the 2020 census, its population was 613. The Belle Fontaine shoreline experiences the occasional jubilee, a rare phenomenon in which fish and crustaceans swarm in the water, just off the beach.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 608 in 2010, 613 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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Famous people

Famous people close to Belle Fontaine

Nobody well known was born in Belle Fontaine itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Tim CookAmerican business executive, former Apple execu… · b. 1960
Lloyd J. Austin IIIUnited States 28th Secretary of Defense · b. 1953
Hank AaronAmerican baseball player · b. 1934
Laverne CoxAmerican actress and LGBT advocate · b. 1972
G
Gregory BenfordScience fiction author and astrophysicist · b. 1941
DeMarcus CousinsAmerican basketball player · b. 1990
Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
BellefontaineSunny Cove
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Belle Fontaine
BoudansMathis

Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Belle Fontaine’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.