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DHistory
History · Bellemont

Bellemont’s post office opened in 1887

More historic than 12% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Most of Bellemont was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2007. Below: maps from 1963 on.

1887first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Quick answers

How Bellemont began

When was Bellemont founded?

1887

The Bellemont post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 1,167139 years

How historic is Bellemont?

D

More historic than 12% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Bellemont post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Bellemont’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bellemont is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bellemont’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 12%
NewerOlder

Few Arizona towns list much on the Register (a typical Arizona town has 0.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bellemont’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (29% of Arizona towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to C−. The pre-1940 share (±1.8 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Bellemont’s past

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

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bellemont’s collection

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

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

How Bellemont came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bellemont.

Read it all →

Bellemont's population was 113 in 1940, and 25 in the 1960 census.

On October 6, 2010, Bellemont was struck by three rare strong tornadoes in short succession. The 1st tornado was rated EF2, the second was rated EF3, and the third was rated EF2. The tornadoes made 15 homes uninhabitable, resulting in the evacuation of about 30 people. A train and 30 recreational vehicles were damaged, but no serious injuries or deaths were reported.

On May 13, 2019, actor Issac Kappy committed suicide by jumping off the Hughes Ave./Transwestern Rd. overpass for Interstate 40 in Bellemont, then being struck by a passing car on the eastbound side.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Bellemont, 1887 to 1963

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1887Post officeThe Bellemont post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1948Born hereVelma S. Salabiye is born here
  5. 1957Post officeThe Bellemont post office closes
  6. 1963On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Bellemont, decade by decade

On the map

Bellemont on the map, 1963 to 1980

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

Bellemont on the 1963 USGS mapBellemont on the 1980 USGS map1963Bellemont sheet · 1:24,000

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Bellemont had its own post office from 1887 to 1957.

Bellemont
1887–1957
18801950today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Questions about Bellemont’s history

What year was Bellemont founded?

The Bellemont post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Bellemont rank for history?

Bellemont is more historic than 12% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Bellemont?

0.0% of Bellemont’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.8 points), against a typical 0.4% for an Arizona town; the median home was built in 2007.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) 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.