Bellevue, Tennessee
Bellevue is a neighborhood of Nashville, situated about 13 miles southwest of the downtown area via Interstate 40. It is served by the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County. The 2016 population estimate for Bellevue's two main zip codes was 77,862.
Home to a legally designated "scenic river" segment of the Harpeth River and the massive Warner Parks, Bellevue offers more than 50 acres of park and open space per 1000 residents. It is a popular destination for outdoors and nature lovers, with miles of paved and unpaved trails for hikers and cyclists along the Harpeth River Greenway. Bellevue is also the beginning access point for a multi-state recreational highway known as the Natchez Trace Parkway.
Commercial/retail hotspots in the Bellevue area are near the Highway 70S/I-40 interchange, at the intersection of Highway 70S and Old Hickory Boulevard; and near the intersection of Old Harding Pike and Highway 100. One Bellevue Place is a retail lifestyle center on the property formerly known as Bellevue Center Mall on Highway 70S. This shopping area includes a coffee shop, hotels, and numerous restaurants and retail establishments, anchored by a Sprouts Farmer's Market grocery store, AMC Bellevue 12 theatre, and the Bellevue Community Center and Ford Ice Center.
In the 1950s, Bellevue was a small community which existed primarily to serve the needs of nearby farms. It was mostly along the railroad tracks near the Harpeth River, and had only a few buildings such as a hardware store, post office, and a Masonic lodge hall. I-40 was built through Bellevue in the early 1960s and suburbanization of the community was made official when the United States Postal Service changed the office's designation from "Bellview, Tennessee" to a branch of the Nashville office in the late 1970s.
On May 2, 2010, the Bellevue area was hard-hit by a devastating flood, but in the following decade it rebounded and experienced transformative residential and commercial development.
On February 3, 2014, Bellevue experienced its first . Four lives were lost in this accident after the plane experienced heavy airspeeds and total engine failure. This plane crash almost destroyed the Bellevue YMCA, with the plane coming down nearly 30 yards from its west side. Instead, pilot Glenn Mull was able to save many lives.
Demographics
According to the census of 2000, there were 37,062 people and 14,807 households in Bellevue. There were an average of 2.5 persons per household.In 1990, 76% of people aged 25 or older had a high school education or better. The median income was $40,328.
As of 2016 the population had risen to 77,862.
Notable residents include Ruby Amanfu, Sam Ashworth (songwriter), George Boebecker, Jr., Cecil Branstetter, T. Graham Brown, Luke Combs, Abraham Louis Demoss, Gabe Dixon, Sylvia Ganier, Bill Evans (saxophonist), Emerson Hart, Scott Hendricks, Rasa Hows, Jet Jurgensmeyer, Winston Justice, Noah Liff, Col. Littleton, Bo Mitchell, Charlie Peacock, Henry Rollins, Brenda Stein, Jane Branstetter Stranch, Sylvain Sylvain, Bill Wade, Laura Weber White, Lainey Wilson, and Jeff Zentner.
Bellevue Public Library
Bellevue's first library service was via bookmobile during World War II. The Bellevue Public Library opened in 1984 in the old woodshop/agriculture classroom building of the original Bellevue High School, built in 1931 and torn down in 1981 when the new Bellevue High School was built on the other side of Colice Jeanne Road. The former gymnasium at the back of the school became part of the Bellevue Community Center. Both the woodshop/agriculture building and the gymnasium were added in the 1950s.The new Bellevue Branch Library opened in January, 2015. The new Bellevue Branch features a children's area, teen area, computer space, café style coffee and vending area as well as meeting room space.
Red Caboose Park
Bellevue Park is located on Colice Jeanne Road in Bellevue across from Bellevue Middle School and next to the Bellevue Branch Library. It is part of the Metro Nashville Parks System. The park is more commonly referred to as Red Caboose Park by locals due to the red caboose that sits on site. On April 1, 2025, Metro Nashville Parks Board approved a name change to officially rename the park as Red Caboose Park, although updated signage and public facing evidence of the name change are not yet apparent. The park also has a log cabin onsite. The park features an exercise path for walkers and joggers, as well as a playground originally built by community volunteers in 1996 as part of the Bellevue Bicentennial Celebration. The original playground was replaced with a more modern, fenced playground in 2019. The update was driven by growing maintenance costs of the original, wooden playground as well as an effort to provide enhanced accessibility to play equipment.Red Caboose Park is the site of the annual Bellevue Community Picnic, which attracts around 20,000 people each year.