Belmont, Missouri Ghost Town: History, Map and Directions

Overview

A landing on the wrong side of the river

**The Battle of Belmont on the Corps of Engineers map published in 1876. North is to the left; the town's grid is at the right end of the Missouri shore, below Columbus** · Photo: United States. Army. Corps Of Engineers, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Belmont was laid out in 1853 on the low Missouri bank of the Mississippi, straight across from the bluffs at Columbus, Kentucky. It was named for August Belmont, a businessman with an interest in the site. Its post office opened as Belmont Landing in 1867 and became plain Belmont two years later.

On November 7, 1861, about 3,100 Union troops under Ulysses S. Grant fought about 5,000 Confederates under Leonidas Polk at Belmont. Each side lost more than 600 killed, wounded or missing, and both claimed victory. Columbus-Belmont State Park, on the Kentucky side, commemorates the battle.

In May 1905 a white mob of 200 to 300 people lynched Tom Witherspoon, a Black man, at Belmont. The town's end came from the water. Floods hit in 1912 and 1922, the post office closed in 1923, and after the destructive flood of 1937 the town was abandoned.

Timeline

What we know

**Belmont and its ferry landing opposite Columbus and Fort Halleck, 1939 USGS sheet** · Map: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain

1853Belmont is platted on the Mississippi opposite Columbus, Kentucky, and named for August Belmont, a businessman with an interest in the site.
Nov 7, 1861Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant and Confederates under Leonidas Polk fight the Battle of Belmont. About 8,100 troops take part and about 1,250 are killed, wounded or missing. Both sides claim victory.
1867–1869A post office runs as Belmont Landing.
1869The post office is renamed Belmont.
May 1905A white mob of 200 to 300 people lynches Tom Witherspoon, also called Robert Pettigrew, a Black man accused of kidnapping and threatening a white man.
1912, 1922Floods strike the town.
1923The post office closes.
1937A particularly destructive flood. After the floods many residents leave, and the town is abandoned.

Site map

Where the town stood

Today's USGS topo labels the spot Belmont Landing, on the wooded riverbank where MO 80 ends, with wetland marked on the low ground behind it and Columbus-Belmont State Park across the river. In the historic maps below, the 1939 sheet still shows Belmont as a scatter of buildings beside a ferry landing, with Columbus and Fort Halleck on the Kentucky bluffs. The 1970 sheet marks only Belmont Landing and the ferry at the end of MO 80, and the 1985 sheet adds an old railroad grade running to the ferry.

We haven't found a dated account of anything standing at the site, or of who owns it.

USGS topographic map of Belmont Landing on the Missouri bank of the Mississippi, with Columbus-Belmont State Park across the river — **USGS The National Map, topo.** MO 80 reaches the river at Belmont Landing. Columbus-Belmont State Park is across the Mississippi to the east.

Aerial view of fields and a wooded strip along the Missouri bank, with barges in the river — **Aerial imagery, same area.** Fields and a strip of woods line the bank, with strings of barges along it in the river.

Historic maps

Belmont on USGS maps, 1939–1985

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Belmont, 1939 — **Wickliffe sheet, 1939, 1:62,500** · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

East Prairie is the nearest town. MO 80 runs east from it across the floodplain and ends at the Mississippi at Belmont Landing. From Cape Girardeau, the route comes down US 61 and I-57. We haven't driven either.

USGS topographic map from East Prairie east along MO 80 to Belmont Landing on the Mississippi, with the route drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From East Prairie15.8 miabout 32 min

From East Prairie, take South Washington Street, which is MO 80, east to its end at the river.15.8 mi

Google Maps directions Apple Maps OpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

The townsite is on the Mississippi floodplain. Never drive into flood water.
We haven't driven MO 80 to its end or confirmed what's at the riverbank.
Missouri law lets owners post land with purple paint on trees or posts. Treat it as no trespassing.

Photos

Have photos of Belmont?

We haven’t added more photographs of Belmont yet. If you’ve visited, share your photos and a field report below.

Visitor reports

Been to Belmont?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Belmont

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Missouri index.

Crosno3.7 mi NW · Mississippi
Fuget4.9 mi NW · Mississippi
Norfolk11.3 mi N · Mississippi
Rushs Ridge11.7 mi N · Mississippi
Three States13.4 mi SW · Mississippi
Greenfield14.0 mi N · Mississippi
Hallett14.4 mi NW · Mississippi
Selkirk18.7 mi W · New Madrid

Sources

Sources and credits

Wikipedia, "Belmont, Missouri", retrieved October 2026: the 1853 plat and the name, post office names and dates, the 1905 lynching, the floods and abandonment, GNIS coordinates.
American Battlefield Trust, "Belmont", October 2026: the battle's date, commanders, forces, casualties and outcome, Grant's first test as a battlefield commander, and Columbus-Belmont State Park.
Jim Forte Postal History, Mississippi County: Belmont post office 1869–1923.
RSMo 569.145, Missouri Revisor of Statutes: purple-paint posting.
Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

The Battle of Belmont on the Corps of Engineers map published in 1876. North is to the left; the town's grid is at the right end of the Missouri shore, below Columbus: United States. Army. Corps Of Engineers, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Belmont and its ferry landing opposite Columbus and Fort Halleck, 1939 USGS sheet: U.S. Geological Survey, USGS catalog, Public domain
Topo map, area base map and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Wickliffe 1939, 1:62,500; Arlington 1970, 1:24,000; Sikeston 1985, 1:100,000.