Helena–West Helena, Arkansas

Helena–West Helena, Arkansas
Clockwise from top: Cherry Street Historic District, the Delta Cultural Center, Phillips County Courthouse, the Helena Bridge over the Mississippi River and the Spirit of the American Doughboy Monument
Location of Helena-West Helena in Phillips County, Arkansas.
Country	United States
State	Arkansas
County	Phillips
Founded	2006 (Helena established 1833)
Incorporated	2006
Government
• Mayor	Jay Hollowell
Area
• Total	13.33 sq mi (34.53 km2)
• Land	13.33 sq mi (34.53 km2)
• Water	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2)
Population (2010)
• Total	12,282
• Estimate (2016)	10,827
• Density	812.11/sq mi (313.56/km2)
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
FIPS code	05-31190

Helena–West Helena is the county seat of and the largest city within Phillips County, Arkansas, United States. The current city was consolidated, effective January 1, 2006, from the two Arkansas cities of Helena and West Helena. Helena is sited on lowlands between the Mississippi River and the eastern side of Crowley's Ridge. West Helena is located on the western side of Crowley's Ridge, a geographic anomaly in the typically flat Arkansas Delta. The Helena Bridge, one of Arkansas' four Mississippi River bridges, carries U.S. Route 49 across to Mississippi. The combined population of the two cities was 15,012 at the 2000 census and at the 2010 census, the official population was 12,282.

The municipality traces its historical roots to the founding of the port town of Helena on the Mississippi River by European Americans in 1833. As the county seat, Helena was the center of a prosperous cotton plantation region in the antebellum years. Helena was occupied by the Union Army early in the American Civil War. The city was the site of the Battle of Helena fought in 1863. Confederate forces unsuccessfully tried to expel Union forces from Helena in order to help relieve pressure on the strategic river town of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Later in the year, Helena served as the launching point for the Union Army in the capture of Little Rock, the state capital.

A thriving blues community developed here in the 1940s and 1950s as rural musicians relocated for city jobs. Mechanization had reduced the need for farm workers. The city continued to grow until the closing of the Mohawk Rubber Company, a subsidiary of Yokohama Rubber Company, in the 1970s. Unemployment surged shortly after.