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History · Belle Center

Belle Center’s post office opened in 1848, and 54% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1960 on, and the census since 1850.

1848first post office
0on the National Register
54%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Belle Center’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Belle Center began, and where its name came from

When was Belle Center founded?

1848

The Belle Center post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 153 in 18502020 census: 809178 years

How did Belle Center get its name?

Belle Center was named for its relatively central location between the cities of Bellefontaine and Kenton.

More on the name

Historically, the community's name has also been spelled Belle Centre, Bellecenter, and even Bellecente.

Founding year: the first Belle Center post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Belle Center’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Belle Center’s homes were built before 1938.Deep rootsA post office since 1848: 178 years of Belle Center.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Belle Center’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewSchool House-Belle Center Ohio-postcard: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Belle Center came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Belle Center.

Read it all →

Historically, some areas in what is now northern Richland Township were covered by swampland. During the 1840s, however, settlers moved in, and a town was platted around 1846, by which time a small town named Richland had become well established in the southern part of what is now Richland Township. In this year, the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad began to plan for a railroad line through the area. A competition developed between the two towns for the location of a water stop for the railroad (essentially requiring the basics of a station), which eventually was won by the upstart town. Five years later, the village of Belle Center was officially incorporated by the Ohio General Assembly. The presence of the railroad led to growth for Belle Center but decline for Richland (since renamed New Richland). This railroad origin is responsible for Belle Center's "diagonal" street layout.

ChaptersEtymology

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Belle Center, 1848 to 1960

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1848Post officeThe Belle Center post office opens
  3. 1864Born hereHenry Wilson Temple is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1920In the archiveSchool House-Belle Center Ohio-postcard
  6. 1960On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Belle Center, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s1 item
School House-Belle Center Ohio-postcard1920School House-Belle Center Ohio-postcardPostcard
1930s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today5 recent
Belle Center village hall2009Belle Center village hallBelle Center Free Public Library2009Belle Center Free Public LibraryBMRT fire department2009BMRT fire departmentAerial2007AerialBelle Center2006Belle Center
On the map

Belle Center on the map, 1960 to 1986

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

Belle Center on the 1960 USGS mapBelle Center on the 1973 USGS mapBelle Center on the 1986 USGS map1960Silver Creek 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 Belle Center.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

School House-Belle Center Ohio-postcard
Retake this viewSchool House-Belle Center Ohio-postcard, 1920

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Belle Center’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Belle Center, census by census

02004006008001,0001850190019502000Peak: 985

Between 153 and 985 people in every census since 1850.

18 censuses, 1850–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Belle Center’s Wikipedia page.

Questions about Belle Center’s history

What year was Belle Center founded?

The Belle Center post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.