Library History

The town of Bellevue  was founded in 1835 by John Bell who owned the land.  It was named Belleview because of the beautiful view of the Mississippi River. Later the spelling was changed to Bellevue.  In 1940, when the first federal census was taken, Bellevue boasted a thriving population of 1,411. 

Bellevue is proud to have a city library which was established in 1925.  The idea was first discussed by the women of P.E.O. in 1924 who believed that the growing town needed a library for the betterment of the community.  Books were purchased from money raised locally and donations from townspeople.

The library continued to add more items and outgrew the original room in the First National Bank building.  Soon the library moved to the first floor of the old Kranz building.  In 1959, the library moved to the large room at the west end of City Hall.  The library board and the library fundraising committee raised the money to undertake an addition and remodel of the old city hall building in 1985-1987.  

The library has always kept pace with the new formats and programming.  Today the library offers books on CD, DVDs, access to online audio books and, of course, the classics and best selling books. The library has 5 public access computer stations, 3 computer stations in the children's room, and three more computers in the teen area. The library also has an expanding genealogy area with a reader printer and microfilm of all the local papers and census data.

 

Over the years, the staff has grown to include 1 full-time director and 2 part-time assistant librarians.