Belleville City Map Poster

About Belleville

Belleville is the oldest incorporated city in Ontario, founded on the orders of Upper Canada's first Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe as "The Town of Belleville" in 1783. It was renamed "Belleville" in honour of his wife, Elizabeth Simcoe (née Gwillim). Although it is commonly believed that Belleville was named after Bell Bay and Belle Isle near Stirling, Scotland; this has been debunked by historians who note that there are no records to support such a claim. The most likely explanation for the name originates from a cartographer's error: while working on his map of Lower Canada he misread 'Bell' Bay at Lake St. Francis as 'Belle' or beautiful bay and labelled it accordingly.