Belle Passi (Beautiful Place of Peace) was the name given by Reverend Neil Johnson to the small community located on Pacific Highway about one mile south of Woodburn, Oregon.
It was there that he and his wife bought a squatter’s claim. In 1851, he organized a town to raise their twelve children. In drawing from inspiration from the theological book he was reading at the time, he suggested Belpassi after the Italian city of Belpasso. The spelling would alter over time to Belpasse and later Belle Passi. Reverend Johnson founded the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in the same year. Church services were held in a log schoolhouse until a new church was built in 1857. It was there that the Oregon Presbyterian Church was founded, in Belle Passi. The first post office was established in the area in 1870. In the late 1800s, the neighboring town of Woodburn had grown to be the largest community in the area, eventually retaining that local post office. Reverend Johnson died at the age of 87 in 1890. He and his family are buried in the cemetery behind the old log schoolhouse. |
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