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Welcome to Bessie ...

Bessie is located in Franklin County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Bessie, you might consider that their post office opened in 1896.

Bessie is 460 feet [140 m] above sea level.<2>.

Time Zone: Bessie lies in the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Bessie: 618 & 730<3>

Communities Also Named Bessie ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 9 communities that are also named Bessie - they are located in Alabama (2), Arkansas (2), Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Bessie.

Communities near Bessie ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Bessie.

  • Marion
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Marion is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marion
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 17,417 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Marion <4>
  • Herrin
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Herrin is located in Williamson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herrin
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 12,625 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Herrin <4>
  • West Frankfort
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • West Frankfort is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Frankfort
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 7,733 people
  • Benton
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Johnston City
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • McLeansboro
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Christopher
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Ina
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Ina is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ina
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,279 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ina <4>
  • Sesser
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Zeigler
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Bessie. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Bessie.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Bessie. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Bessie.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Bessie. See our Newspapers Page for Bessie.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Bessie ...

Looking for more information about Bessie? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Bessie, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Bessie.

Adding Bessie to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Bessie in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Bessie was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>

From that list, the Bessie post office opened in 1896. The Bessie post office closed in 1901.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Bessie.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Illinois' counties, including Franklin, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Bessie - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<3>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 618 code has been Overlayed with the 730 area code. New phone numbers in the Bessie area will be assigned with one of these codes: 618 or 730. As a result, placing a call in the Bessie area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/