Do you know of Belle Plain ???

This page is an orphan - a placeholder until we can discover more about Belle Plain. When we encounter a name that is new to us, we add it to our Gazetteer with the hope that we'll discover more information in the future. Such is the case with Belle Plain.<1>

Our sources for Belle Plain (see Mentions and References below) indicate that it was a community with a post office by the same name. Unfortunately our sources aren't clear about the location of Belle Plain other than they indicate that Belle Plain would be found somewhere in Marshall County, Illinois.

From the Blevins / Hellbock List: The post office opened in 1851 and closed in 1902.

Communities Also Named Belle Plain ...

We found three communities that share the name Belle Plain.

Within Illinois, the name Belle Plain is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of another three communities that are located throughout in the United States.

Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Colorado
  - Pueblo County
  - We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of Belle Plain [Pueblo County].
- Texas
  - Callahan County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Belle Plain [Callahan County].
  - Moore County
  - Please visit our profile page for the Texas community of Belle Plain [Moore County].

Miscellaneous References and Mentions for Belle Plain ...

We've created the following list to keep track of the sources that proved useful in adding to our knowledge about Belle Plain:

Found in a comprehensive list of Post Offices that was created by Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<3>

Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895)
Published by Rand McNally & Co.

A note taken from the Shipper's Guide for Belle Plain - Services available: had a Post Office, no Railroad mentioned

More Orphans in Marshall County ...

Can you help?

As we explained above, when we encounter a name that might be a community or a post office we add it to our Gazetteer. If we have little information to go with the name, we call them Orphans. Below are Orphans that we believe to be located in Marshall County.

Bell Plain	Held

Campgrove	Lake Wildwood
Caton	Laprairie Center
Crow Meadows
	Wilburn

Footnotes ...

<1>	This entry could have originated in error. It might be that a source had a misprint, was simply wrong or we made a transcription error while referencing it. Many of the documents we reference are from the 1800s and the early 1900s, with some easier to read than others.
<2>	If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer. Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name. Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time. Also keep in mind that Belle Plain could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<3>	A copy of their list with background information can be found at: https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/