Page "Belleview, Florida" Paragraph 4

When the Florida Railway and Navigation Company railroad arrived in the county during 1882, a new development firm called the Marion Land and Improvement Company was formed to promote and sell the land around Lake Lillian.

Lake Lillian has had several names including Nine Mile Pond, Butlers Pond, and even Roach's Pond which was when the land around the lake was owned by early settler King Roach.

It is not known how or when the name Lake Lillian came to pass.

By 1886, it was referred to as Lake Lillian in a booklet about Belleview published by the Marion Land and Improvement Company.

According to Belleview history expert Gene Scroggie, the name Lillian was thought to belong to the wife of one of the men who formed the Marion Land and Improvement Company.

One story passed down about the name of the town, Belleview, was Pelot named it after his daughter Belle.

But according to a history of the town written in 1950, the name was derived by the founders in 1884 from a combination of French word " belle " and " view ", to mean beautiful vistas to be seen around the fledgling town.