Bellaire, Ohio

Bellaire is a village in Belmont County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Wheeling, West Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area, and Wheeling is across the Ohio to the east. The population was 4,278 at the 2010 census, having had its peak in 1920. The village is located along the Ohio River.The Bellaire toll bridge (now abandoned and closed) was filmed in the 1991 motion picture The Silence of the Lambs. The curved railroad viaduct and bridge over the Ohio, the B & O Railroad Viaduct, were featured in the 2010 film Unstoppable and is a registered historic structure.HistoryNative AmericansMound builders occupied numerous areas along the Ohio River and built complex earthworks. None of their distinctive prehistoric remains has been found within the present-day city limits.The Mingo, Shawnee and Delaware were historic tribes who inhabited the area at the time of European encounter and settlement. The latter were involved in the Northwest Indian Wars after settlement began in the post-Revolutionary War years. Unhappy that the United States had ignored their grievances in the 1789 Treaty of Fort Harmar, the Indians tried to push out the settlers over the next several years.