Bellaire was founded in 1908 by William Wright Baldwin, who was the president of the South End Land Company.

Baldwin started Bellaire in the middle of "Westmoreland Farms" to serve as a residential neighborhood and an agricultural trading center.

In 1910, Edward Teas, a horticulturist, moved his nursery to Bellaire from Missouri so he could implement Sid Hare's landscaping plans.

Bellaire remained independent of Houston, and adopted a home rule charter with a council-manager government in April 1949.

According to Karl Lewis, a vice president and sales manager at John Daugherty Realtors, when the prices of West University Place land reached about $20/sq ft, area home buyers began to consider Bellaire, which had an average price of $10–12/sq ft. Don Stowers of the Houston Press said that Bellaire and West University Place had "comparable" attributes such as independent fire and police departments, zoning, recreation facilities and parks, and schools "among the best in Houston."

[12] During the Hurricane Rita evacuation, a bus filled with residents from Brighton Gardens, a nursing home in Bellaire, caught on fire and exploded in the city of Wilmer.

[15] On March 23, 2008, a tour bus carrying Tejano singer Emilio Navaira crashed in Bellaire.

[22] Siegel announced that the city would investigate racial profiling and hire an independent consultant to look at traffic stop data.

On April 6, 2009, a Harris County grand jury indicted Sergeant Jeffrey Cotton, the police officer, for aggravated assault by a public servant.

[25] The trial in Harris County District Court on criminal felony charges against Cotton began on January 25, 2010.

"[33] In January 2010, Siegel announced that she would oppose a plan to locate a permanent, privately funded Houston Dynamo stadium at the intersection of South Rice and Westpark, near Bellaire.

[36] As of July 31, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas, 78 people were confirmed to have had the disease; at that time, no Bellaire residents had died from it.

[37] Ryan Nickerson of the Houston Chronicle stated that "local officials" credited the lower population density and the relative wealth of Bellaire residents.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.6 sq mi (9.3 km2), all land.

The more spacious and inexpensive housing lots prompted area home seekers to consider Bellaire.

Karl Lewis, the vice president and sales manager of John Daugherty Realtors, said that many of the houses were "still quite attractive" and "similar to the large Tanglewood homes."

The six council members are, in order of position, Neil Verma (1), Trisha Pollard (2), Gus Pappas (3), Pat McLaughlan (4), Michael Fife (5), and David Montague (6).

[80] Zoning and land use controversies, common throughout Bellaire's history, resulted in the 1977 recall of the mayor and three council members.

[82] Bans of texting while driving were passed in Bellaire and West University Place, Texas within hours of one another.

[99] The main offices of the Greater Southwest Houston Chamber of Commerce were previously located in Bellaire.

[5] At one point the Consulate-General of Honduras in Houston was located in Suite 360 at 6700 West Loop South in Bellaire.

Students who are eligible for HISD's preschools may attend any Early Childhood Center in Houston ISD for free.

The rebuilds of Horn, Lovett, and Herod Elementary of Houston together had a cost of $49 million and were a part of a $1 billion bond program approved by HISD voters in 2007.

The committee opened after HISD's failed attempt to acquire property in Bellaire for the West University relief school.

[154] McAdams added that even with the new program, to many parents in Bellaire, Long was "never going to be acceptable" due to the overwhelming Hispanic presence.

However those inside the 610 Loop did not want to lose access to Pershing, a full service middle school that was about 40% White.

McAdams wrote that the staff members of HISD superintendent Frank Petruzielo "liked the idea, but unfortunately, on close examination the building proved to be inadequate.

Its campus previously housed Marion High School and the Congregation of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, a Roman Catholic school operated by the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament and within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.

[179] Jack Gurwell had established the newspaper in 1954; Lynn McBee of the Bellaire Examiner described him as "a Damon Runyonesque character".

[9] Bellaire is a member city of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO).