Helena, Alabama

Helena, Alabama. . , At a crossroads, one mile south of Helena, a post office called Cove was established in 1849 and renamed Hillsboro in 1857. During the Civil War the South and North Railroad (the Louisville and Nashville Railroad) was constructed to just north of Hillsboro on Buck Creek to facilitate the shipping of coal and iron from nearby mines and iron works. The construction engineer, Peter Boyle, married Helen Lee, the daughter of early settler Needham Lee Jr., and named the railhead Helena Station in honor of his wife. Union raiders, under Gen. J. H. Wilson, stormed through the area on March 29-30, 1865, destroying mines, mills and furnaces. The post office moved to Helena in 1872 following the post-war revival of industry. The town was surveyed into lots and streets by mining engineer Joseph Squire in 1875 and incorporated in 1877 with M. H. Williams as mayor., By 1910, the town included four mercantile stores, two meat markets, two liveries, three doctors, a millinery, and a coal and a steel company. It served as the commercial center for neighboring mining communities such as Roebuck, Coalmont, Falliston, Mossboro, Zenida, Straven and Acton. The first metal bridge over Buck Creek was erected in 1911. The present concrete dam was completed c. 1913 furnishing the water power generating the town’s first electricity and allowing for the installation of the first telephone service operated by C. T. Davidson, the son of early settler John W. Davidson. On May 5, 1933, many of Helena’s early buildings were destroyed in a devastating tornado that killed 12 people and injured 75. Alabama Governor Rufus Wills Cobb (1878-1882) was a resident of Helena and a charter member of the Helena Masonic Lodge (1876).