Belton, Texas: Bell County's First Seat
Near Killeen, Texas
Belton is the seat of Bell County, and it has held that distinction almost from the moment Texas joined the Union. Bell County was established in eighteen fifty, named for Peter Hansborough Bell, the third governor of Texas. The first county seat was a small settlement called Nolan Springs, renamed Nolanville. Within a year, the legislature decided a more central location was needed and moved the seat to a new town incorporated in December eighteen fifty-one and named Belton, after the county itself.
A log courthouse went up on the square in eighteen fifty-two. Stagecoach service started the same year, connecting Belton to routes running from Little Rock to San Antonio. By the mid-eighteen fifties, merchants had clustered around the courthouse and Belton had become a regional trading center. It remains the county seat today, its modest downtown courthouse square largely unchanged in layout from those early years.
