Bellefontaine
County: Monroe
Location: Southeast corner, Church and Hoerner St.,
Waterloo
Erected: 07/21/76 Erected by:
Monroe County Historical Society and the Illinois State Historical
Society
Bellefontaine was one of the first settlements made by Americans in
what is now Illinois. The earliest settlers included families of
Revolutionary War veterans who had served with George Rogers Clark.
Captain James Moore brought a band of pioneers from Virginia and
Maryland in the winter of 1781-1782. The settlement took its name
from a nearby spring the French called 'La Belle Fontaine' (beautiful
spring). By the 1800's it was the third largest community in the
Illinois Territory.
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