Paradise Farm

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

From the record

“Paradise Farm are historic agricultural and domestic buildings located west of Bellevue, Iowa, United States. Massachusetts native Elbridge Gerry Potter settled near Big Mill Creek in 1842 from Illinois.”
Wikipedia article Paradise Farm, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 77 National Register listings published here for Jackson County · listed in 1977 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. W of Bellevue, Bellevue, 52031
When was it listed? July 1977
Category. building
Township. Bellevue township
National Register reference number. 77000520 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

6 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Paradise Farm between 2006 and 2018, burning about 225 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	4
Debris and open burning	2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
28 April 2006	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Iowa Department of Natural Resources	not named
23 April 2018	Debris and open burning	4.0 acres	Iowa Department of Natural Resources	not named
25 March 2007	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Iowa Department of Natural Resources	not named
23 March 2014	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources	FIRST
21 March 2009	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	21 acres	Iowa Department of Natural Resources	not named
19 January 2006	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	200 acres	Iowa Department of Natural Resources	not named

Every fire recorded in Jackson County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 11 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Paradise Farm: 6 past producers, 4 producers, 1 occurrence. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Lead, Zinc. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Bellevue Clay Products Co. Pit	Clay	Past Producer
Indian Mound Mine	Lead, Zinc	Past Producer	1917, 1919
Bellevue Pit & Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Kueter Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Little Gem Pit & Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Bellevue Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Bellevue Sand and Gravel Co. Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
La Motte Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Limestone Prospect	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Occurrence
Unknown	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Jackson County

Storms near this property

35 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bellevue, the town this property stands in, in 35 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 20 thunderstorm wind, 9 hail, 3 flood, 1 heavy rain. The reports record 3 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
March 2023	Tornado (EF1)	Bellevue	3 hurt	A tornado touched down just south of Bellevue, and moved northeast over the Mississippi River before dissipating. This tornado impacted an RV park and some cabins located nearby. Some structural damage was noted, with some RVs that were flipped and damaged. Several trees within the area were also impacted, with some uprooted. Three injuries were noted with this tornado in the vicinity of the RV park. This tornado continued into Jo Daviess County, Illinois, but likely dissipated over the river as no damage was observed in a wooded area adjacent to the river. Peak winds were estimated around 105 mph.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	$50,000	Wind gusts estimated to be up to 85 mph snapped several large pine trees off about 10 feet off the ground, downed power lines, and destroyed a machine shed in Bellevue, IA around 1015 am CDT July 28. The debris from the machine shed blew across the street onto the DNR Building and broke the windshield of a DNR vehicle. A power outage was observed on the south side of town.
August 1994	Hail	Bellevue	$50,000	no account filed
August 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	$50,000	no account filed
August 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	$5,000	Wind gusts estimated to be 75 mph blew down at least 20 large trees in the Kurth Addition about a half of a mile south of Bellevue, IA at 542 pm August 4. Power lines were also down.
May 2004	Hail	Bellevue	$5,000	no account filed
August 1994	Hail	Bellevue	$5,000	no account filed
August 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	$2,000	no account filed
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	$1,000	3 to 4 inch diameter solid branches down. Time is estimated based on radar.
May 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	-	A 40ft tall radio tower brought down in the wind.
May 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	-	Trees down, blocking the road into Bellevue State Park and town. Time estimated from radar data.
July 2024	Flood	Bellevue	-	The Mississippi River Lock and Dam 12 in Bellevue rose above its major flood stage of 20.0 feet around noon on July 5th and at 20.17 feet on July 7. The river fell back below flood stage around 2 AM on July 9.
August 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	-	Several 2 inch diameter branches blown down.
June 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	-	Trees were blown down along Highway 52 near Bellevue.
June 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	-	Measured on a hill.
June 2015	Flash Flood	Bellevue	-	Law enforcement reported flash flooding and road closures in Bellevue and locations along the creeks west of town. These included: 239TH Ave at Centerville Rd, 380th Ave...258th St between 283rd Ave and Mill Creek Rd.
August 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	-	A trained spotter estimated that thunderstorm winds were gusting to 60 mph. The gusts blew down some 2 inch diameter tree branches. The time of the event was estimated using radar.
July 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	-	Law Enforcement reported that trees and wires were down in northeast Jackson County.
May 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	-	A trained spotter reported several branches down about 6 inches in diameter. The time of the event was estimated from radar.
May 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	-	The Emergency Manager for Jackson County reported that a few 2 inch tree limbs were down in the city of Bellevue. The time of the event was estimated from radar.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	-	Wind gusts estimated to be 70 mph uprooted a 50 foot tall tree at Vine and 2nd Streets in Bellevue, IA around 610 am CDT July 11.
October 2010	Flood	Bellevue	-	The river rose above flood stage at Bellevue on October 2 at 110 am cst and fell below flood stage on October 7 at 317 pm cst. Minor flooding occurred with the crest reaching 17.97 feet on October 4 at 7 am cst. Flood stage is 17 feet.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	-	Wind gusts were estimated to be 70 mph near Bellevue, IA at 141 pm June 18.
June 2009	Hail	Bellevue	-	Quarter-sized hail fell in Bellevue, IA around 912 am June 19.
July 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	-	Wind gusts estimated to be 75 mph blew down several trees in Bellevue, IA around 750 pm July 24.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	-	Wind gusts estimated to be 60 mph blew down some tree limbs and branches on the south side of Bellevue, IA at 3:32 pm June 7.
July 2006	Heavy Rain	Bellevue	-	street flooding with water curb deep
July 2005	Hail	Bellevue	-	Mainly pea sized hail with a few penny stones.
October 2001	Hail	Bellevue	-	0.88 inch hail reported by trained spotter. Hail event duration was 5 minutes.
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	-	Law enforcement reported a 60 mph thunderstorm gust in rural Bellevue.
July 1999	Hail	Bellevue	-	Law enforcement reported quarter-sized hail in rural Bellevue.
April 2026	Hail	Bellevue	-	no account filed
March 2016	Hail	Bellevue	-	no account filed
May 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Bellevue	-	no account filed
June 2000	Flood	Bellevue	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Jackson County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Upper Paradise	1.0 miles	1991
Henry Roling House	1.5 miles	1991
Theodore Niemann House and Spring House	1.5 miles	1991
Big Mill Homestead	1.6 miles	1991
Fritz Chapel	1.7 miles	1991
Spring Side	2.7 miles	1990

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 77000520 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Jackson County	All 77 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.