Bellaire, Michigan
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Forest Home Township. It lies in ZIP code area 49615. It stands on Cedar River. The Survey maps it on the Bellaire quadrangle. 1,053 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 627 feet above sea level.
On record in Bellaire
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 3 records
Antrim County Courthouselisted 1980
M-88-Intermediate River Bridgelisted 1999
Henry Richardi Houselisted 1978
Population over time
3 figuresBellaire grew from 65 to 1,053 between 1880 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1880 | 65 | |
| 2010 | 1,086 | |
| 2020 | 1,053 | -33 (-3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 15 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1954 USGS Traverse City quadrangle1:250000, 4 printings
- 1956 USGS Mancelona quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Traverse City quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1975 USGS Mancelona NW quadrangle1:24000
- 1983 USGS Traverse City quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Bellaire quadrangle1:24000
- 1989 USGS Traverse City quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
55 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 55 fires within 5 miles of Bellaire between 1992 and 2020, burning about 76 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 1 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 |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 24 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 10 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 5 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ANTRIM 03 - PINE PILE |
| 9 August 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | BELLAIRE DISTRICT FD 272 - 2019 |
| 22 August 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8.5 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 16 August 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.3 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ANTRIM 01 - WOODCHIP FIRE |
| 13 August 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 12 August 2015 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | ANTRIM 07 |
| 12 August 2006 | Debris and open burning | 1.3 acres | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 July 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Bellaire: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| William W Johnston Clay Pit | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Wilsons Farm Shale Pit | Clay | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
9 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bellaire in 9 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 5 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellaire | $25,000 | Numerous trees downed. Roof and large deck of home near Shanty Creek heavily damaged by fallen trees. |
| July 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellaire- | $10,000 | Numerous trees and some power lines were downed by the wind between Bellaire and Alden. |
| August 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellaire | $6,000 | Trees and power lines downed around and on the north side of Bellaire. |
| September 2025 | Tornado (EF1) | Bellaire | - | An EF-1 tornado touched down on the southwest side of Bellaire and tracked northeast for nearly a mile before dissipating on the north side of Craven Park, producing spotty tree damage across the town and in the park. |
| August 2021 | Flash Flood | Bellaire | - | Water over M-88 in multiple locations. |
| August 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellaire | - | Numerous trees down. |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bellaire | - | Large tree limbs down. |
| May 2013 | Hail | Bellaire | - | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Bellaire | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Arms | 1.2 miles | 15 | |
| Snowflake (historical) | 3.9 miles | 12 | |
| Clam River | 4.4 miles | 12 | |
| Pleasant Valley | 6.0 miles | 12 | |
| Central Lake | 6.8 miles | 12 | |
| Finkton | 7.0 miles | 12 | |
| Alden | 7.6 miles | 12 | |
| Creswell | 8.0 miles | 12 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Bellaire | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1825758 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 621048. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
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.






