In the central part of the county, north of Trenton, is Bell, incorporated in the early 1900’s and now the third largest town of Gilchrist County.
James Williams homesteaded 159 acres just south of where Bell is located today. To make the land ready for his family, James would leave Trenton each Monday morning and travel the ten miles to his land, working it all week long and returning to his family in Trenton on Saturday night.
Where the center of Bell is today James put up a post with a box on top of it. He and other farmers in the area could send and receive letters from the circuit rider traveling from Lake City, Trenton, and Gainesville. As a result, more and more people began to meet there, and slowly the town grew up (1894- 95). The first post office was established in Bell in December, 1897
The town received its name in 1890’s when the winner of a beauty contest, Bell Fletcher, got to give her name to the new railroad station and post office. She lived in Bell all her life, passing away in 1919.
In the early 1900’s, the town had a railroad station and several small establishments, two general stores, a sawmill, and a crosstie camp.
The town also has two public schools, an elementary and high school. At first, a one-room school had one teacher for all the grades. Later, a long partition down the center of the room allowed two teachers to divide up the sixty to seventy five students, who would arrive each morning with their slates, pencils, big nickel tablets, copybooks, and lunch buckets. Later, the town put up a two-story school building, with the first four grades on the first floor and other four on the second floor.
The Justice of the Peace in Bell had a large water tank and pump run by a gasoline engine, from which he furnished the townspeople running water for one dollar a month. There were no paved streets then, just deep sand.
There were hitching posts around town for the boys to tie up their horses while they visited with their girl friends. A sing was always held somewhere on Sunday afternoon so the young folks could get together. Peanut boilings, shellings, and candy pulling, with ice cream suppers were also frequently held. The boys furnished the ice cream, and the girls furnished the homemade cake. If there was nothing else happening on Sunday afternoon the young folks would walk along the railroad.
In 1908 a large general merchandise store was built. One of the attractions of the drugstore was the number of slot machines it had that people liked to play. One of the early residents once recalled how her father made his rounds in his horse and buggy. If he fell asleep on the way back his horse would bring him home. He would take care of a woman from the beginning of her pregnancy to the actual delivery, all for $25.
As Bell grew in size, several grocery stores opened up, along with some service stations. there was also a gristmill where people took their shelled corn.
Starting in 1903 a train that served Bell was called Peggy, either from a name applied by a local resident with the subsequent expression, “He’s too slow to catch Peggy,” or because of a peg-leg conductor that people called “Peg.” The Bell depot there was built around 1905.
The railroad did much to develop communities along its route and was the main way to move timber, farm products, and limerock to markets. In time, a diesel engine replaced Peggy’s steam engine until it finally became unprofitable to run the train. The railroad that had served Bell and Wannee so well for so many years no longer operates, but long-time residents have many fond memories of their “Peggy.” The depot now serves as the city offices and town meeting place.
The town did well until the local timber was depleted, at which time many residents moved away. Several of the old settlers were convinced of the farming possibilities, and slowly the town began to revive to what it is today, a small town in the center of a mostly agricultural community with services of all kinds, including some great restaurants.
Today Bell, a town of only 1.6 square miles, has a permanent population of about 400. There are many residents to the west of Bell living in the vicinity of or on the Suwannee River. One of the communities there is Wannee, once a center of activity and railroad turn around, now a river front retreat for quite a few permanent residents of Gilchrist County. The old center of activity with its large general store and railroad depot is now a little park and boat ramp on the river with old pilings from the steamboat dock still standing just off shore.
In the central part of the county, north of Trenton, is Bell, incorporated in the early 1900’s and now the third largest town of Gilchrist County.
The town received its name in 1890’s when the winner of a beauty contest, Bell Fletcher, got to give her name to the new railroad station and post office. She lived in Bell all her life, passing away in 1919. 
The town also has two public schools, an elementary and high school. At first, a one-room school had one teacher for all the grades. Later, a long partition down the center of the room allowed two teachers to divide up the sixty to seventy five students, who would arrive each morning with their slates, pencils, big nickel tablets, copybooks, and lunch buckets. Later, the town put up a two-story school building, with the first four grades on the first floor and other four on the second floor.
There were hitching posts around town for the boys to tie up their horses while they visited with their girl friends. A sing was always held somewhere on Sunday afternoon so the young folks could get together. Peanut boilings, shellings, and candy pulling, with ice cream suppers were also frequently held. The boys furnished the ice cream, and the girls furnished the homemade cake. If there was nothing else happening on Sunday afternoon the young folks would walk along the railroad.
Starting in 1903 a train that served Bell was called Peggy, either from a name applied by a local resident with the subsequent expression, “He’s too slow to catch Peggy,” or because of a peg-leg conductor that people called “Peg.” The Bell depot there was built around 1905. 
Today Bell, a town of only 1.6 square miles, has a permanent population of about 400. There are many residents to the west of Bell living in the vicinity of or on the Suwannee River. One of the communities there is Wannee, once a center of activity and railroad turn around, now a river front retreat for quite a few permanent residents of Gilchrist County. The old center of activity with its large general store and railroad depot is now a little park and boat ramp on the river with old pilings from the steamboat dock still standing just off shore.