The History of Belle Rive High School
Belle Rive (population 371) is located in the southern portion of Illinois about 10 miles southeast of Mt.
Vernon. Illinois Route 142 is the main roadway leading to and from this southeast Jefferson County town. Two railroad
lines, the Louisville & Nashville and the Illinois Central Gulf, intersect in Belle Rive. A branch of the Auxier
Creek flows by the west side of town. Belle Rive is named after Frenchman Angus De Belle Rive and was
established in 1871.
Belle Rive residents began a high school for their children in1912. Belle Rive High School served
its children and the townspeople quite well for about five decades. Belle Rive HS never offered more then
a three year course of study for its students. The fourth year, if desired, was sought at a neighboring high school
in Mt. Vernon or Bluford. Belle Rive High School felt the pinch of the consolidation effort of the late 1940s.
The school closed her high school doors in 1948. The students of Belle Rive attend high school in nearby Mt.
Vernon today.
We do know that the neighboring towns of Belle Rive and Opdyke consolidated their grade school efforts in
a partnership that remains even today. The K-4 grades of this consolidation attend school at the former Belle Rive High
School building. The kids in grades 5 - 8 attend school in Opdyke as part of the Belle Rive-Opdyke School District.
Belle Rive High School Quick Facts
Year opened: 1912
Year closed: 1948
Consolidated to:
(Most students attend Mt. Vernon High School)
School team nickname:
the "Tigers"
School team colors:
Orange & Black
School Fight Song:
unavailable
