History:

Belview, once known as Jones Siding and Rolling Prairie, is located in southwestern Minnesota on the rich prairie farmland of northwestern Redwood County adjacent to the Minnesota River Valley.

Much of the area that is now within the county boundaries was ceded by the Dakota Indians in the Treaty at Traverse des Sioux in 1851. A ten-mile wide strip along the Minnesota River was retained as reservation land, and the Lower Agency was established within this strip as a government administrative center for the Lower Sioux.

During the 1860's, the government survey of county lands was completed, and Homestead Act was instituted, and the reservation lands were opened for Euro-American settlement. Farmers and land speculators were among the earliest settlers, with the latter hoping to lure additional settlers with promises of larger communities to come.

The Wisconsin, Minnesota and Pacific, a line of the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad, laid track across the northern edge of the county in 1884. On a route which extended from Minneapolis to Watertown, South Dakota. The tracks crossed land owned by Hibbard Jones, whose farmstead was located on the rise of land known today as "Bunker Hill" (one-half mile north of town). In 1887, farmers and residents of the area petitioned the United States government for a post office. Jones platted the village in 1889, and the local government was organized in 1892.

The Belview Heritage Preservation Commission was established in 1977 to preserve for future generations what is important and significant in the community's past. This area of our web site briefly describes the history of some of these properties.