History

During the hot and sultry summer of 1876, the citizens of Belleville talked animatedly and with a measure of pride about the great strides the town had made in recent years. Belleville was growing steadily and the future appeared promising. The bustling community of merchants, tradesmen, politicians and other inhabitants looked forward in earnest to the incorporation of Belleville as a city. From a nutshell community in 1816 of 150 settlers, the majority of whom were United Empire Loyalists, Belleville’s population had risen to over

10,000 people by the mid 1870’s. Over the years the town had spread along the shore of the Bay of Quinte and on both sides of the Moira River, known in the early days as the river Sagonaska.

The townspeople, reflecting on their achievements of the past, were confident of even greater accomplishments in the years to come.