Fontenelle ' s Post Fontenelle ' s Post , first known as Pilcher ' s Post , and the site of the later city of Bellevue , was built in 1822 in the Nebraska Territory by Joshua Pilcher , then president of the Missouri Fur Company . Located on the west side of the Missouri River , it developed as one of the first European - American settlements in Nebraska . The Post served as a center for trading with local Omaha , Otoe , Missouri , and Pawnee tribes . In 1828 Lucien Fontenelle , a French - American fur trader representing the American Fur Company , bought the post and became the lead agent . In 1832 he sold the post to the US Government , which used it for the Missouri River Indian Agency ( or Bellevue Agency ) until about 1842 . The Post also served as the first home of Moses and Eliza Merrill , Baptist missionaries who arrived in 1833 . The US Indian agent offered them the trading post building as a temporary home . In 1835 the Merrills founded the first Christian mission in Nebraska Territory to serve the Otoe . History . In 1822 Joshua Pilcher of the Missouri Fur Company built a fur trading post on the west bank of the Missouri River to trade with the local Native American tribes of Omaha , Otoe , Missouri and Pawnee . Fur trading in the United States was not regulated by governments , and fur traders competed madly for the lucrative business , enticing the American Indians with various trade goods and often liquor . At first Pilcher competed with John Jacob Astor ' s Cabanné ' s Post of the American Fur Company ( AFC ) north of Bellevue . In 1823 Astor bought Pilcher ' s , bringing it into his monopoly of the fur trade under the American Fur Company . In 1828 the trader Lucien Fontenelle , born into a wealthy French Creole family in New Orleans , purchased Pilcher ' s Trading Post . Having started trading at age 19 , Fontenelle was then 28 and a representative of the American Fur Company . The site became known as Fontenelle ' s Post . Like many traders , Fontenelle had married a high - status Native American woman , and formed important alliances with her people . She was " Me - um - bane " ( Bright Star ) , a daughter of the Omaha principal chief Big Elk . They had five children together : Logan ( b . 1825 ) , Albert ( b . 1827 ) , Tecumseh ( b . 1829 ) ( named for the great Shawnee chief ) , Henry ( b . 1831 ) and Susan ( b . 1833 ) . Fontenelle sent their sons to St . Louis to ensure they had European - American style schooling . Although the mother ' s people would protect her children , the Omaha had a patrilineal system in which children belonged to their father ' s gens . Children of a " white " father had no place in the tribe ; generally unless such mixed - race boys were adopted by a man of the tribe , they could not have status in it . With the fur trade declining because of changes in taste in Europe and the decline of game in the US , in 1832 Fontenelle sold the post to the US government . It was used by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as the headquarters of the Missouri River Indian Agency , also called the Bellevue Agency . The Bureau of Indian Affairs allowed missionaries to come to the Indian reservations . In 1833 , the US Indian agent allowed Moses and Eliza Merrill , Baptist missionaries , to live at the Post as a temporary home . In 1835 the Merrills founded the first Christian mission in Nebraska Territory . Fontenelle was appointed US Indian agent at Fort Laramie and his family joined him there in 1837 . He died in 1840 at the age of 40 . From 1840 to l853 , Logan Fontenelle , the oldest son of Lucien and " Me - um - bane " , worked as an official interpreter at the US Indian agency at Fontenelle ' s Post . He gained much respect among both the Omaha and European - American communities . He served as an interpreter during the important negotiations of 1853 - 1854 that resulted in the Omaha ceding most of their territory to the United States , in exchange for annuities and goods , and settling on a reservation in northeastern Nebraska . The town of Bellevue , Nebraska was established in 1855 after developing around the post and Indian agency . Iowa trading post . At one time , the Bellevue and Council Bluffs area was bristling with trading posts on both sides of the Missouri River , reflecting the busy economy related to western emigration . When the French Creole Peter Sarpy came from New Orleans about 1823 , he first worked for his brother ' s father - in - law , John Cabanné , who had a post for the American Fur Company . Some years later , Sarpy established his own trading post on the east side of the Missouri River , in what became Iowa . Marriage and family . Like many other fur traders , Sarpy married a local woman , " Ni - co - mi " of the Iowa tribe . She had a daughter , Mary Gale , born during her first marriage to John Gale , an American surgeon who had been stationed at Fort Atkinson ( Nebraska ) . When it was closed in 1827 , he was reassigned . Sarpy and Nicomi also had children . " Ni - co - mi " wanted to stay with her people . Her daughter Mary Gale married Joseph LaFlesche , a Métis fur trader adopted as a son by the Omaha chief Big Elk , and groomed and named by him as his successor as the future principal chief . Sarpy ' s Post , Iowa . Sarpy ' s post was located at an area variously called : " Point aux Poules " ( Hens ' Point ) , Point of the Pulls , Pull Point , Sarpy ' s Point , Nebraska Post Office , Council Bluffs Post Office , and Traders Point . Owned by Astor ' s American Fur Company , Sarpy ' s Post served mostly European and United States travelers , and especially outfitted pioneer expeditions going west . The Post was located downriver from present - day Council Bluffs , Iowa . By 1846 Sarpy expanded his operations to run Sarpy ' s Ferry , which provided passage for travelers across the Missouri River between Bellevue and St . Mary ' s . He carried travelers for the Oregon Trail , men going west for the California Gold Rush , and Mormon pioneers . Sarpy County , Nebraska , the area around the town of Bellevue , was named after him . In 1849 a post office was established on the Iowa side of the river ; it was called Nebraska . In 1850 it was called the Council Bluffs Post Office and was located at Sarpy ' s Point , present - day Iowa . It was reopened on the Nebraska side in 1852 just south of the curve of the river at Sarpy ' s Point ( Iowa ) and named Trader ’ s Point Post Office .