Belmont, Missouri

Belmont is a ghost town in Mississippi County, on the eastern border of the U.S. state of Missouri at the Mississippi River.{{cite web | url=http://shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_mississippi.html | title=Mississippi County Place Names, 1928–1945 | publisher=The State Historical Society of Missouri | accessdate=November 6, 2016 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624071928/http://shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_mississippi.html | archivedate=June 24, 2016 | url-status=live}} The GNIS classifies it as a populated place under the name "Belmont Landing".{{GNIS|740666|name=Belmont Landing}}

History

Belmont was platted in 1853, and named after August Belmont, a businessman interested in the site. A post office called Belmont Landing was in operation from 1867 until 1869, and a post office called Belmont from 1869 until 1923.{{cite web | url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=MO&county=Mississippi | title=Post Offices| publisher=Jim Forte Postal History | accessdate=6 November 2016}}

Belmont was the scene of a Civil War battle, the Battle of Belmont in 1861.{{cite book|last=Earngey|first=Bill|title=Missouri Roadsides: The Traveler's Companion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xcxWsmxRzVEC&pg=PA80|year=1995|publisher=University of Missouri Press|isbn=978-0-8262-1021-0|page=80}} The community lends its name to the Columbus-Belmont State Park, a Civil War site across the Mississippi River in Hickman County, Kentucky.{{cite book|last=Reigler|first=Susan|title=The Complete Guide to Kentucky State Parks|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=83qq9ta7dgwC&pg=PT236|date=1 May 2011|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=0-8131-3912-0|page=236}}

After the Reconstruction era, whites asserted their dominance, often by violence and intimidation. In May 1905, a mob of 200 to 300 whites lynched Tom Witherspoon, aka Robert Pettigrew, an African-American man, for alleged kidnapping and threats against a white man.[http://www.monroeworktoday.org/explore/map2/indexif.html Map of White Supremacy mob violence, 1835 - 1964], Monroe Work Today[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/map-shows-over-a-century-of-documented-lynchings-in-united-states-180961877/#5XC6GSKltKIx3TYK.99 Danny Lewis, "This Map Shows Over a Century of Documented Lynchings in the United States"], Smithsonian Magazine, 27 January 2017; accessed 12 April 2018 This event took place during an era of increased violence by whites against blacks due to economic problems and social tensions. A series of floods (1912, 1922, and 1937) inundated the town of Belmont, particularly the 1937 flood. Many people moved away after this destruction and the town became abandoned; the post office closed in 1923.

==References==

Category:Ghost towns in Missouri

Category:Former populated places in Mississippi County, Missouri