West Helena in Phillips County, Arkansas — The American South (West South Central)
Early Railroads
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 16, 2024
1. Early Railroads Marker
In the 1850s Helena businessmen dreamed of a railroad connecting the city with Little Rock. They drew up plans, but powerbrokers diverted money from the Helena project to a line connecting Memphis and Little Rock.
Arkansas's First Railroad
Railroad building was an expensive and risky enterprise. Many initiatives failed. When the Civil War began in 1861, the only operational track in the state was a 38-mile section in Crittenden County connecting West Memphis with Madison.
The Iron Mountain & Helena
After the Civil War, dozens of railroad companies were incorporated but progress laying track was slow. Helena was finally connected to a rail system in 1871. The Iron Mountain & Helena ran to Forrest City, where passengers and freight could transfer.
Two years later, the Arkansas Central Railroad laid track between Helena and Clarendon. Helena businessman Sidney H. Hornor bought the Arkansas Central and renamed it the Arkansas Midland Railroad. He scrapped plans for a line to Little Rock and created a regional network in the Delta, where the cotton and timber industries grew the line's business.
Railroad Ferry to Mississippi
All eastbound rail traffic from Helena crossed the Mississippi River at Memphis, where freight paid a premium in tolls and switching fees to continue east.
this page online
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Industry & Commerce • Railroads & Streetcars • Waterways & Vessels. A significant historical year for this entry is 1871.
Location. 34° 32.643′ N, 90° 38.817′ 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 at or near this postal address: 57 Plaza Avenue, 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); End of an Era (here, next to this marker); Wood Products Capital (here, next to this marker); Made in West Helena (here, next to this marker); Unbroken Forest (here, next to this marker); West Helena's POW Camp (approx. 0.2 miles away); Battery B
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 16, 2024
2. Early Railroads Marker
Looking west through the Plaza Avenue median; this marker is the third 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.
Related markers. Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker. West Helena, Arkansas
Also see . . . Narrow Gauge Railroads (Encyclopedia of Arkansas).
Excerpt: Arkansas was home to nine narrow gauge railroads that offered freight and passenger service to the public. The three-foot gauge was most common; a pair of 3½ gauge railroads later converted to the yard-wide gauge. Arkansass narrow gauge mileage peaked at more than 550 miles in the mid-1880s but declined rapidly thereafter.(Submitted on December 13, 2024, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)The Iron Mountain and Helena, planned as a 140-mile line that would link Helena to the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern at Peach Orchard (Clay County), built eighteen miles of 3½ track between Barton (Phillips County) and Marianna (Lee County) in 1879. The railroad opted for the 3½ track because it entered Helena on ten miles of trackage rights of the 3½ Arkansas Midland. Conversion to standard gauge took place in 1881. The railroad later became part of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern (Missouri Pacific).
Courtesy Helena Museum of Phillips County
3. Marker detail: Iron Mountain and Helena Railroad Company Stock Certificate
4. Marker detail: Y. & M. V. Ry. Transfer Steamer Bertram Crossing Mississippi River at Helena, AR.
The John Bertram was the second transfer boat to carry trains across the Mississippi. Operated by the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad (which succeeded the Louisville, Texas & New Orleans), the wooden single-track steamboat could carry up to five railroad cars.
Ivey Gladin Collection, Special Collection, University of Mississippi Libraries
5. Marker detail: Bales of cotton await shipment at Helena Cotton Compress, located at Helena Crossing
Courtesy Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, Arkansas Studies Institute, Little Rock
6. Marker detail: Station Crew at Marmaduke, Arkansas, ca. 1900
Credits. This page was last revised on June 28, 2025. It was originally submitted on December 13, 2024, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 331 times since then and 35 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on December 13, 2024, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
