Helena (Montana)

Helena (listen^ⓘ</img> listen^ⓘ /ˈhɛlənə/) is the capital of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis County and Clark County.

Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana Gold Rush and was established on October 30, 1864. Due to the gold rush, Helena would become a wealthy town, with approximately 50 millionaires inhabiting the town. area in 1888. The concentration of wealth contributed to the city's prominent and elaborate Victorian architecture.

As of the 2010 census, Helena's population was 28,190, making it the fifth-least populous state capital in the United States and the sixth most populous city in Montana. It is the area's principal city. Helena Micropolitan Statistics, which includes all Lewis and Clark and Jefferson counties; Its population is 81,653 according to the 2019 census estimate.

The local newspaper is the Independent Record. The city is served by the Helena Regional Airport (HLN).

History

Before the Europeans

The Helena area was long inhabited by several indigenous peoples. Evidence from the McHaffie and Indian Creek sites on opposite sides of the Elkhorn Mountains southeast of the Helena Valley shows that people of the Folsom culture lived in the area more than 10,000 years ago. Prior to the introduction of the horse 300 years ago, and since then, other native peoples, including the Salish and Blackfeet, visited the area seasonally on their nomadic rounds.

First settlement and gold rush

At the beginning of the 19th century, people of European descent from the United States and British Canada began arriving to work in streams of the Missouri River basin in search of fur-bearing animals such as beavers, no doubt taking them through the area now known as the Helena Valley.

Gold strikes in the Idaho Territory in the early 1860s attracted many migrants who started large gold rushes at Grasshopper Creek (Bannack) and Alder Gulch (Virginia City) in 1862 and 1863 respectively. So many people arrived that the federal government created a new territory called Montana in May 1864. Miners prospected far and wide in search of new discoveries of alluvial gold. On July 14, 1864, the discovery of gold by a prospecting party known as the " Four Georgians " in a ravine of Prickly Pear Creek led to the founding of a mining camp along a small stream in the area they called Last Chance Gulch. ".

By fall, the population had grown to more than 200, and some thought the name Last Chance was a misnomer. On October 30, 1864, a group of at least seven self-proclaimed men met to rename the city, authorize the layout of streets, and elect commissioners. The first suggestion was 'Tomah', a word the committee thought had connections with the local indigenous population. Other nominations included Pumpkinville and Squashtown (as the meeting took place the day before Halloween). Other suggestions were to name the community after various Minnesota cities, such as Winona and Rochester, since several settlers had come from those Minnesota locations.

Finally, a Scot, John Summerville, proposed Helena, which he pronounced /həˈliː nə/ hə-LEE -nə, in honor of Helena Township, Scott County, Minnesota. This caused an immediate uproar from the former Confederates in the room, who insisted on the pronunciation /ˈhɛlᵻnə / HEL -i-nə, like Helena a city on the Mississippi River in the state of Arkansas. While the name won "Helena", the pronunciation varied until about 1882 when the /ˈhɛlᵻnə/ HEL -i-nə pronunciation became dominant. Later accounts of the name Helena claimed that the name came from the island of Saint Helena, where Napoleon was exiled, or was that of a miner's bride.

Helena was surveyed by Captain John Wood in 1865 for the first time. Helena's original streets followed the paths of the miners, making the first blocks of various sizes and shapes.

In 1870, Henry D. Washburn, appointed surveyor general of Montana in 1869, organized the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition in Helena to explore the regions that would become Yellowstone National Park. Mount Washburn, within the park, bears his name. The expedition included several residents of Helena.

Economic boom

In 1888, about 50 millionaires lived in Helena, more per capita than in any city in the world. They had made their fortunes in gold. It is estimated that about $3.6 billion in today's money was mined from Helena during this time period. The Last Chance Placer is one of the most famous placer deposits in the Western United States. Most production occurred before 1868. Much of the placer is now found beneath the streets and buildings of Helena.

This great concentration of wealth was the basis for the development of beautiful residences and ambitious architecture in the city; Its Victorian neighborhoods reflect the golden years. The numerous miners also attracted the development of a thriving red light district. Among the well-known local madams was Josephine "Chicago Joe" Airey, who built a prosperous business empire between 1874 and 1893, becoming one of Helena's largest and most influential landowners. Helena brothels were a successful part of the local business community well into the century XX, and ended with the death in 1973 of Helena's last lady, "Big Dorothy" Baker.

The official symbol of Helena is a drawing of 'The Guardian of the Gulch,' a wooden fire lookout tower built in 1886. It still stands on Tower Hill overlooking the downtown district. The tower, which was built in 1874, replaced a series of observation buildings; the original was built in response to a series of devastating fires that devastated the early mining camp. On August 2, 2016, an arson fire severely damaged the tower and it was deemed structurally unstable. The tower will be demolished, but will be rebuilt using the same methods as its original construction.

In 1889, railroad magnate Charles Arthur Broadwater opened his Broadwater Hotel and Natatorium west of Helena. The Natatorium was home to the world's first indoor swimming pool. Damaged in the 1935 Helena earthquake, it closed in 1941. The property's numerous buildings were demolished in 1976. Today, the Broadwater Fitness Center stands just west of the original location of the Hotel & Natatorium, with an outdoor pool heated by natural spring water running beneath it.

Helena has been the capital of the Territory of Montana since 1875 and the state of Montana since 1889. Referendums were held in 1892 and 1894 to determine the state capital; the result was to keep the capital at Helena. In 1902, the Montana State Capitol was completed. Until the 1900 census, Helena was the most populous city in the state. That year it was surpassed by Butte (population 30,470), where the mining industry was developed.

Among the settlers attracted to the city's prosperity were blacks fleeing racism in the south. Many found work in the mines or on the railroads and established a middle class that supported black-owned businesses, black churches, black newspapers, and a black literary society. A black police officer patrolled the city's wealthiest (white) neighborhood. But in the late 1900s, new discriminatory laws, such as the ban on intermarriage and the establishment of many sundown towns, along with the racist attitudes that led to them, drove out many non-white blacks. only to Helena by the state, to the point that the city's black population today is a small fraction of what it was at the turn of the century XX.

In 1916, the United Daughters of the Confederacy commissioned the construction of the Confederate Memorial Fountain in Hill Park. It was the only Confederate monument in the Northwest United States. The fountain was removed on August 18, 2017, then after being deemed a threat to public safety by the Helena City Commission following a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

1980s to present

St. Helena Cathedral and the Civic Center are two of Helena's many important historic buildings.

Many working Helenans (approximately 18%) work for state government agencies. When in Helena, most people visit the local shopping center. It was completed in the early 1980s after urban renewal and the Model Cities Program in the early 1970s had removed many historic buildings from the downtown district. Over the next decade, a commercial district was renovated of three blocks that followed the original Last Chance Gulch. A small artificial stream runs along most of the boardwalk to represent the underground springs that originally flowed above ground in parts of the Gulch.

The Archie Bray Foundation, an internationally renowned ceramics center founded in 1952, is located northwest of Helena near Spring Meadow Lake.

A significant train accident occurred on February 2, 1989, in which a 48-car runaway freight train crashed into a parked train near Carroll College, causing an explosion that shattered windows up to three miles away., causing most of the city to lose power and forcing some residents to evacuate in sub-zero weather.

With the mountains, Helena has plenty of outdoor recreation, including hunting and fishing. Great Divide Ski Area is located northwest of the city, near the ghost town of Marysville. Helena is also known for its mountain biking. It was officially designated as an International Mountain Bicycling Association Bronze Level Ride Center on October 23, 2013.

Helena High School and Capital High School are public high schools in Helena School District #1.

In 2017, Helena voters elected as mayor former Liberian refugee Wilmot Collins, who was widely reported to be Helena's first black mayor. The Independent Record reported a disputed investigation that indicated that in the early 1870s an E. T. Johnson, listed in the city directory as a black barber from Washington, D.C., had been elected mayor, before Helena became an incorporated city.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 42.45 km², of which 42.35 km² is land and 0.10 km² is water.

Climate

Helena has a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk), with long, cold, moderately snowy winters, hot, dry summers, and short springs and autumns in between. The monthly average daily temperature ranges between −14 °C in January to 21 °C in August. Snowfall has been observed in all months except July, but is generally absent from May to September and typically accumulates only in light amounts. Winters have periods of moderation, partly due to the warming influence of the Chinooks. Precipitation falls primarily in the spring and is generally scant, averaging only 29 cm annually.

Average climate parameters of Helena, Montana, normal 1991–2020, extremes 1880–presente
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	17.2	20.6	25.6	30	35	40	40.6	40.6	38.9	30.6	24.4	21.1	40.6
Average temperature (°C)	0.2	2.9	8.6	13.7	19.1	23.7	30.1	29.2	22.9	14.2	6	0.3	14.3
Average temperature (°C)	-5	-2.7	2.3	6.9	12.2	16.5	21.4	20.4	14.9	7.5	0.4	-4.8	7.5
Temp. medium (°C)	-10.3	-8.2	-4.1	0.2	5.3	9.3	12.8	11.6	7	0.8	-5.1	-9.9	0.8
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	-41.1	-41.1	-34.4	-23.3	-8.3	-1.1	2.2	-2.2	-14.4	-22.2	-39.4	- 40	-41.1
Total precipitation (mm)	9.9	10.7	13.2	25.9	49.5	56.1	26.9	26.4	24.4	19.8	15	11.7	289.6
Nevadas (cm)	16.8	16.8	11.7	7.4	0.3	0	0	0.8	0.5	7.1	13.7	19.6	94.5
Precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm)	6.5	6.5	6.9	8.8	11.2	11.5	7.5	6.3	5.8	7.0	6.5	6.6	91.1
Days of snowfall (≥ 0.2 cm)	5.6	5.6	3.7	2.1	0.2	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.0	1.5	4.0	5.2	28.1
Hours of sun	119.4	149.0	225.8	243.0	282.0	308.7	370.3	324.1	254.6	202.9	118.6	99.9	2698.3
Relative humidity (%)	66.0	64.1	60.1	53.9	53.5	52.1	46.4	47.5	54.5	58.3	64.8	68.1	57.4
Source No. 1: NOAA (humidity and hours of sun 1961–1990)
Source No. 2: National Weather Service

Demography

According to the 2010 census, there were 28,190 people residing in Helena. The population density was 664.16 inhabitants/km². Of the 28,190 inhabitants, Helena was made up of 93.34% white, 0.42% were African American, 2.3% were American Indian, 0.73% were Asian, 0.07% were Pacific Islander, 0.56% were other races, and 2.59 % belonged to two or more races. Of the total population, 2.76% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.