Although always situated on the
Wisconsin River, Helena has existed in three different locations. The first village of Helena was staked out by
Henry Dodge as a river
port convenient to recently discovered
lead deposits around
Dodgeville,
Blue Mounds, and
Mineral Point. In 1831 Daniel Whitney, an entrepreneur from
Green Bay, Wisconsin, formed a company to build a
shot tower on a nearby bluff. Helena was emptied during 1832 when most of its inhabitants joined militias to fight in the Black Hawk War. Following the
Battle of Wisconsin Heights,
Black Hawk and his allies fled across the Wisconsin River. To follow them the U.S. army under the command of
Henry Atkinson marched and arrived in Helena on July 26, 1832. They tore down many of the buildings to make rafts. Approximately 1,300 men were ferried across the Wisconsin River at Helena over the next two days. However a bridge was built across the river several miles upstream, and consequently the
railroad was built through
Spring Green instead of Helena. The
Panic of 1857 further depressed Helena's economy. The town was moved again, to the northeast, to be along the rail line. It did not flourish, and in the mid-1860s Helena had only 50 inhabitants. ==Today==