The first building in Helen was J. Hamp Willis’ store that moved from Kingston to Helen. The first permanent settler was Dr. E. F. Lewis. Soon, two more stores and two residences were moved from Kingston to Helen.
AroundNovember1,1900, a collection was taken for the building of a schoolhouse for the town of Helen. The school was completed on April 15, 1901. E. R. Macreedy was the first teacher, and he also became the editor of the Helen Weekly Herald newspaper. The schoolhouse was used as the place of worship for all the churches in town until 1904 when the Methodists built their church and then two years later a Baptist Church was completed.
The first brick building was built around 1903. It still stands today on the northwest corner of Hwy 70 and Main Street.
The first bank was established in 1903. In 1905, a National Bank was organized and bought out the original bank. The National Bank then built the second brick building in Helen in 1905. That bank building also stands today. These two buildings are the only buildings remaining that were built in Helen.
Around 1905, Helen had seven dry goods and grocery stores, two hardware stores, one lumber yard, two blacksmith shops, two banks, one barbershop, one livery stable, one cotton yard and elevator, two hotels and 800 inhabitants. Helen was a booming town.
Helen had nearly everything a town could want, except one important thing. A post office.
Helen petitioned the US Postal Service for a post offi ce, but the request was denied. Therewasanothertown in Indian Territory named Helena and postal officials were concerned that the similar names would cause confusion, so they denied the request of the town of Helen.
So,whiletherailroadwent throughHelen,themailwent to Kingston. Today, that wouldn’t be a big problem, (since the distance between the two was about two miles) but back in 1905, that was a huge problem as the distance was enough that it took quite some time for folks to travel by wagon to the post office in Kingston.
In 1906, a decision was made that would end both towns. But then again…it would save both. So, to speak.
The solution is coming in Part III.