Bellevue, NE

Bellevue traces its European-American settlement to the 1830s and incorporated in 1855. It is described as Nebraska’s oldest continuously inhabited town, while the state legislature has credited it as the second-oldest incorporated settlement after Nebraska City. The Missouri River forms the city’s eastern boundary. Offutt Air Force Base, built south of Bellevue in 1921, houses the United States Strategic Command. Bellevue is now part of the Omaha–Council Bluffs metropolitan area and recorded 64,176 residents in 2020, making it Nebraska’s third-largest city that year. The Missouri River’s continuing influence was stark in 2019, when regional flooding destroyed about 200 homes.