Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns · #210 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Andrew S. and Elizabeth Miller House. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1948 on, and the census since 1870.
Bellevue dates its founding to 1796 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bellevue is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #210 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
Pennsylvania towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Pennsylvania town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bellevue’s 1.2 sits near the middle of its state (54% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bellevue’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bellevue.
The land on which the borough now sits was once part of the Depreciation Lands reserved for Revolutionary War veterans. The first landowners in the area were James Robinson and Hugh Henry Brackenridge, who purchased parcels in 1799 and 1792, respectively.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Peaked at 11,604 in 1950; 8,311 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bellevue’s Wikipedia page.
Passages that mention Bellevue, cut from the printed page as they were published.
West Bellevue Borough. — This place was incorporated from the eastern part of Kilbuck December 9, 1874, and had a population of 326 by the census of 1880. The station is known as Birmingham, and the postoffice as Myler Noble J. Black, the first postmaster, was appointed in May, 1883, and John F. Niehaus, in August, 1887. There are two churches, Methodist Episcopal and Presbyterian. The population is principally made up of clerks and others engaged in the city, and their families. The Davis island dam is an object of interest.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
West Bellevue Borough. — This place was incorporated from the eastern part of Kilbuck December 9, 1874, and had a population of 326 by the census of 1880. The station is known as Birmingham, and the postoffice as Myler Noble J. Black, the first postmaster, was appointed in May, 1883, and John F. Niehaus, in August, 1887. There are two churches, Methodist Episcopal and Presbyterian. The population is principally made up of clerks and others engaged in the city, and their families. The Davis island dam is an object of interest.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Bellevue Borough. — Bellevue was formed from the southwestern part of Ross township, September 7, 1867. It is separated from Allegheny City by Jack' a run, and is about four miles from the business part of the city by the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago railway. The most thickly settled part of the borough is along the Beaver road, and is connected with the railway station by an electric road. The site combines healthfulness, accessibility and beautiful natural scenery. There are no manufactures, and the local business is very limited. It is a suburban village to the full extent of the term, and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
have been rapidly multiplied among the working people in the neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and missions begun which will before long have their own places of worship. Five such chapels have been opened within a short time, and one new church built in a totally different community, at Bellevue; while the new Church of the Ascension at Shadyside, now being erected, will add in a few years another strong and wealthy parish to the list. Everything points to a more rapid development of church extension in Allegheny county than at any previous time.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereThomas McKee Bayne is born here
In the archiveJacks Run Bridge, Pleasant Valley Street Railway, 1893
Born hereSam Parks, Jr. is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archivePAAC PCC 1676 a -13 EMSWORTH car on Lincoln Ave. near Fremont Ave. in Bellevue, PA on Jun…2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bellevue. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bellevue.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Bellevue’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Bellevue had its own post office from 1887 to 1897.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1796, according to Wikidata. Bellevue’s post office opened in 1887, and the census of 1870 counted 384 people here.
Bellevue is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #210 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. 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.
One place: the Andrew S. and Elizabeth Miller House (listed 2019).
55% of Bellevue’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.5 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1938.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (11), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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