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Helena, Arkansas

16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1939 and the latest in 1990. It stands in St. Francis Township. It lies in ZIP code area 72342. It stands on Porter Bayou. The Survey maps it on the Helena quadrangle. 10,032 people lived here at the 2010 count. It stands 197 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Helena within Phillips County

On record in Helena

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 12 of 35 shown

Every listing in Phillips County

Population over time

2 figures

Helena grew from 614 to 10,032 between 1850 and 2010. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
1850614
201010,032

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 16 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

10 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Helena between 1992 and 2011, burning about 157 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined4
Arson/incendiarism2
Recreation and ceremony2
Equipment and vehicle use1
Debris and open burning1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 1998Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreOzark-St. Francis National ForestsBLAIR
17 September 2000Arson/incendiarism60 acresArkansas Forestry Commissionnot named
6 May 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresOzark-St. Francis National ForestsCANE
7 March 2003Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresOzark-St. Francis National ForestsTURKEY
18 February 2002Debris and open burning88 acresOzark-St. Francis National ForestsBYRD
10 February 2002Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreOzark-St. Francis National ForestsCASTEWAY
29 December 2002Arson/incendiarismunder an acreOzark-St. Francis National ForestsMIDAS
7 October 2004Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreOzark-St. Francis National ForestsLAKE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Phillips County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Helena: 5 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
UnkClayPast Producer
Helena RevetmentSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Miss River PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Phillips Cnty Hiwy DeptSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
ThompsonSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Phillips County

Storms near this place

23 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Helena in 23 storm reports between 1994 and 2008: 12 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 3 flash flood, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
March 2002Thunderstorm WindWest Helena$250,000Four businesses were damaged. Four homes were also damaged. Some trees and power lines were knocked down.
June 2004Flash FloodWest Helena$100,000Numerous businesses, homes and roads were flooded.
January 1999Thunderstorm WindWest Helena$35,000Thirty mobile homes were damaged. An outbuilding was also damaged and a fence was wrapped around a tree. A house under construction had the outer frame blown off. A parked 18-wheeler was blown over.
February 2008Thunderstorm WindWest Helena$20,000Straight line winds knocked down trees and caused some minor roof damage in the West Helena and Helena area. A storage shed roof was blown off and another shed was picked up over a four foot fence and thrown into the side of a house.
February 1996Thunderstorm WindWest Helena$20,000no account filed
February 1999Thunderstorm WindHelena$15,000A couple of buildings in downtown Helena were damaged. Several trees and power lines were also knocked down.
May 2004Thunderstorm WindWest Helena$5,000A few trees were uprooted.
May 2000Thunderstorm WindWest Helena$5,000Several trees were knocked down.
April 1999Thunderstorm WindHelena$5,000Several trees were knocked down.
June 1995Thunderstorm WindWest Helena$5,000Several trees and power lines were knocked down.
June 1994Thunderstorm WindHelena$5,000Several trees and power lines were knocked down.
June 1995HailHelena$5,000no account filed
March 2002Flash FloodHelena$1,000Some vehicles were washed into a ditch by flood waters.
July 1997Thunderstorm WindHelena$1,000A couple of trees and power poles were blown down.
October 1997Thunderstorm WindWest Helena$1,000A police car windshield was destroyed by several tree limbs.
June 1995HailHelena$1,000A large tree was blown down and fell on a power line.
March 1997Flash FloodHelena$1,000no account filed
June 1995HailHelena$1,000no account filed
December 2002FloodHelena$500Some minor street flooding occurred in Helena.
June 1995HailHelena$100A large tree was blown down and fell on a power line.
June 1995HailWest Helena$100Several trees and power lines were knocked down.
April 1999HailHelena$100no account filed
May 2001HailWest Helena$10no account filed

Every storm recorded in Phillips County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Helena-West Helena0.1 miles16
Oak Forest1.1 miles16
Midland Heights1.8 miles16
Holiday Hills1.9 miles16
Helena Crossing2.3 miles16
West Helena3.0 miles16
Huma4.3 miles16
Preston Place4.6 miles15

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on HelenaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q679084The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 77157. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.