West Helena in Phillips County, Arkansas — The American South (West South Central)
End of an Era
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 16, 2024
1. End of an Era Marker
The lumber industry and railroads were inter-dependent. The first could not have developed without the second. The railroads would not have come if not for the industry. Together they made West Helena a boom town.
Boom Town
Work was abundant and wages good. The whine of sawmills and the sound of steam locomotives could be heard all day. Smoke filled the air as laden trains slowly made their way from West Helena to the river, or north toward Kansas City and the west coast. A product of the new century, West Helena illustrated the power of industry and the railroads to fuel the American dream.
Rails Become Roads
In 1946, the federal interstate highway system came into being. By the early 1950s, cars and trucks were commonplace nationwide. Railroad traffic declined. The completion of the Mississippi River highway bridge at Helena made industries here less dependent on rail transportation.
The last transfer boat, the Pelican, ceased operation in 1971. The railroads left West Helena. In time the old M&NA right-of-way became the U.S. 49 bypass. The railroads are gone but their legacy lives on. You can still see where tracks crisscrossed the industrial center of town. There are some to your right, at the end of the median.
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Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Industry & Commerce • Railroads & Streetcars • Roads & Vehicles. A significant historical year for this entry is 1946.
Location. 34° 32.644′ N, 90° 38.815′ W. Marker is in West Helena, Arkansas, in Phillips County. It is on Plaza Avenue 0.1 miles east of U.S. 49, on the left when traveling east. This marker is one of six interpretive panels in the Plaza Avenue median at this location. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: West Helena AR 72390, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in the Arkansas Delta, in Crowleys Ridge, in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, and in the Quapaw Homeland. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Upper South, in the Mississippi Delta, and in the Great River Road Region. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, the Louisiana Purchase, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: A Web of Track (here, next to this marker); Early Railroads (here, next to this marker); Made in West Helena (here, next to this marker); Wood Products Capital (here, next to this marker); Unbroken Forest (here, next to this marker); West Helena's POW Camp (approx. 0.2 miles away); Battery B (approx. 2.9 miles away); Patrick Ronayne Cleburne (approx. 3.1 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in West Helena.
Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker. West Helena, Arkansas
Also see . . . Helena-West Helena (Encyclopedia of Arkansas).
Excerpt:(Submitted on December 13, 2024, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)The hardwood lumber industry provided many jobs in Helena and West Helena during the early part of the twentieth century, but several events caused the industry to decline. Five companies that manufactured barrel staves lost their primary customers when the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcoholic beverages, went into effect in 1920. Automobiles replaced wooden wagons (although early models were made with many wooden parts that were manufactured in Helena and West Helena), and metal buckets replaced wooden buckets. Finally, the floods of 1927 and 1937 severely damaged the infrastructure of Helena and West Helena, causing them to forfeit their place in the nations lumber market.Courtesy Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Arkansas Studies Institute, Little Rock2. Marker detail: St. Louis & Iron Mountain Ry. Depot, Helena, Ark.Now the Delta Cultural Center Depot Museum, the Arkansas Midland Railroad constructed this passenger depot in 1912. It later served the St. Louis & Iron Mountain, Missouri Pacific, and Union Pacific railroads.
3. Marker detail: The Pelican
The Pelican carried railroad cars from Helena Crossing to Lula, Mississippi, from June 1930 until 1971, when the service was discontinued. The steel double-track steamboat could transport up to sixteen cars.
Phillips County Public Library, Helena, Arkansas
4. Marker detail: Missouri & North Arkansas Railroad office in West Helena, ca. 1915
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 16, 2024
5. Union Pacific Caboose № 25112
(On exhibit a few meters west of this marker.) This caboose is a reminder of the days when lumber and railroads were the backbone of West Helena. By 1997, the Union Pacific Railroad had absorbed all of the main rail lines in Arkansas. Today, the Arkansas Midland Railroad connects Helena with the Union Pacific at Lexa.
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 16, 2024
6. End of an Era Marker
Looking west through the Plaza Avenue median; this marker is the first one from the front on the right. A restored and preserved Union Pacific caboose is on exhibit just to the west of this group of six interpretive panels.
Credits. This page was last revised on December 14, 2024. It was originally submitted on December 12, 2024, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 174 times since then and 20 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on December 13, 2024, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
