John Frederick settled here in 1845 after finding a mill site on the Sugar River, and his mill prompted Yankee settlement as a village developed with a hotel and tavern, blacksmith, harness maker, and general store. In 1847 an octagon-shaped school was erected, followed by Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian congregations. The village was platted in 1851 and named Belleville for Frederick's native place in Canada West, and a post office was established in 1852. In the 1850s and 60s, Swiss, Irish, and French groups acquired adjacent farmland, and the 1870s and 80s brought new growth with a library, opera house, and railroad. By 1900 the flourishing village included a fire department and high school. Library Park, marked as public ground in the 1851 plat and once crossed by an Indian trail, became the site of many community events. In 1887 a tent city stood there for laborers working on the new railroad line. The brick building erected in 1894 served as a village hall, library, firehouse, and jail. After 1900 a bandstand and fountain were added, and the park hosted holiday celebrations, fairs, concerts, and free summer movies. Village offices and the firehouse were relocated in 1923, while the library remained until 1978. In the 1980s the bandstand and fountain were rebuilt and the building's first floor was refurbished as a meeting room and museum, and in 1982 the park and building were placed on the National Register of Historic Places.