The society would like to “remember” the flood of 1969, but realized that we have no pictures of the flood. We couldn’t believe it. So, if you want to help us grow our collection of Bellevue memory’s, and you have any pictures that you would like to share, please make a copy and send it to us at The Bellevue Historical Society, P.O. Box # 304, Bellevue, Ohio. Or if you want you can e-mail a copy to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. It would help if you put the location of the photo.
Thanks in advance for all your help.
Oscar Bannister with the model of the Tremont House that he made and donated.
Oscar Bannister has given The Bellevue Historical Society a wonderful model of The Tremont House with columns to the ground floor, just like they were in 1846 when the building was new. Oscar presented his HO-scale model to the directors at their August 15 meeting. Oscar originally built the building as a square, but learned that the side on North West Street is not parallel to the east side of the building, so it took an extra month to remedy that problem so that the model would replicate the original's trapezoidal shape. Bill Oddo, John Miller and Peggy Missler from the Society helped him with information for his project. This model of The Tremont House is a great addition to the Society's collection. It will be displayed at Society events and on special occasions. It should help the citizens of Bellevue to appreciate The Tremont House's architectural importance and beauty.
When it is restored, The Tremont House will be an asset to downtown Bellevue and an attraction that the community can be proud of.
"The Nickel Plate Story" 1953 - American Trains & Railroad History
NKP History
The New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (NYC&St.L) , commonly referred to as "the Nickel Plate Road", was a railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. The Nickel Plate Railroad was constructed in 1881 along the South Shore of the Great Lakes connecting Buffalo, New York and Chicago to compete with the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway. In 1964, the Nickel Plate Road and several other mid-western carriers were merged into the larger Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W). No mainline railroad was more colorful than the Nickel Plate Road in the early 1950's, and this publicity film shows Lima S2 2-8-4s "Berkshire" and brand new Alco PAs moving freight and passenger trains in high style. Read more here!
The building known as “Penny’s” – or “Downtown Florist” at the corner of East Main and S. Sandusky Sts. was built in 1893 by J. D. Cook to house his clothing store. Mr. Cook bought the lot from Dr. L. B. Sperry for $4,100. early in the year; Charles Wolk built the building for $5,000; and Cook’s Clothing store opened in September.
Historian Bill Oddo chronicled a story about Mr. Cook as he reminisced in later years about his business success: “A competitor opened a store across the street and started advertising good men’s suits at $9.50. We came in with $9.48. He reduced to $8.50, we to $8.48; he $7.50, we $7.48. We then wired to a company to send us 100 men’s suits at $5.00. They came and were of excellent quality. We advertised them at $6.45. The sale was a tremendous success. The competitor folded up and left town.”
Cook’s carried clothing for the entire family in what came to be called the “Big Store”. The business was sold in April, 1914. The next owner moved across the street in 1927, into the east side of the ‘Ben Franklin’ store .
below are a few of the recent projects restoring the tremont house