How Bellevue, Nebraska Got Its Name (Beautiful View)

Bellevue, Nebraska, gets its name from the French for “beautiful view.” Tradition says fur trader Manuel Lisa said it when he first saw the spot, but that part is a story, not a record.

Where the name comes from

Belle vue is French for “beautiful view,” and Bellevue sits on the bluffs above the Missouri River, so the meaning isn’t in doubt. The question is who said it first.

A 1925 study of Nebraska place names puts it this way: “An old tradition accounts for the naming of Bellevue.” The tradition says that in 1805 the fur trader Manuel de Lisa (1772–1820) came to the spot and, seeing “the beautiful scenery about him,” exclaimed “Belle vue.” Then the study adds a reality check: “Authentic history shows that Lisa was in the vicinity in 1807 and 1809.” In other words, the 1805 date doesn’t hold up, and the quote is a story.

The U.S. Geological Survey’s place-name record hedges on part of it. It says the area was “likely settled” by Manuel de Lisa, but it repeats that he “described the area as ‘belle vue’ or ‘beautiful view.’”

The oldest town in Nebraska

The 1925 study calls Bellevue “the oldest town in the state of Nebraska.” Bellevue University’s library calls it Nebraska’s oldest city. It started as a fur-trading post on the Missouri. The USGS record gives 1855 for incorporation and says Bellevue was the county seat of Sarpy County from 1857 to 1875.

The 1925 study also notes that, the way people say it, the name “might now be spelled Belleview.”

Sources & further reading

• Lilian Linder Fitzpatrick, Nebraska Place-Names (University of Nebraska, 1925). A public-domain study of the state’s place names, county by county. The Lisa tradition, the reality check on dates, and Bellevue as the oldest town.
• GNIS feature 827304 (U.S. Geological Survey). The federal record for Bellevue. “Likely settled” by Lisa; incorporated 1855.
• Bellevue University Library, “Historic Nebraska: Nebraska’s Oldest City, Bellevue.” The town’s claim as the state’s oldest.