Helena-West Helena, Arkansas

Helena-West Helena, Arkansas

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Helena-West Helena, Arkansas
nickname =
motto =


imagesize =
image_caption =


image_



image_




mapsize = 250px
map_caption = Location of Helena-West Helena, Arkansas
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_type1 = State
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name = flag|United States
subdivision_name1 = flag|Arkansas
subdivision_name2 = Phillips
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = James Valley
established_title = Founded
established_title2 = Incorporated
established_date = 2006 "(Helena established 1833)"
established_date2 = 2006
area_magnitude =
area_total_sq_mi = 13.3
area_total_km2 = 34.6
area_land_sq_mi = 13.3
area_land_km2 = 34.6
area_water_sq_mi = 0.0
area_water_km2 = 0.0
area_urban_sq_mi =
area_urban_km2 =
area_metro_sq_mi =
area_metro_km2 =
population_as_of = 2007
population_note = Combined figure based on pre-consolidation numbers
population_total = 12,246
population_metro =
population_urban =
population_density_km2 = 433.9
population_density_sq_mi = 1128.7
timezone = CST
utc_offset = -6
timezone_DST = CDT
utc_offset_DST = -5
latd=
longd=
elevation_m =
elevation_ft =
website =
footnotes =

Helena-West Helena is the county seat of and the largest city within Phillips County, Arkansas. The current city represents a consolidation, effective on January 1, 2006, of the two Arkansas cities of Helena and West Helena. West Helena is located on the western side of Crowley's Ridge, a geographic anomaly of the typically flat Arkansas Delta. Helena is nestled between the Mississippi River and the eastern side of Crowley's Ridge. The Helena Bridge, one of Arkansas' four Mississippi River bridges, carries U.S. Route 49 across to Mississippi. According to the 2007 US Census, Helena-West Helena has a population of 12,246

The municipality traces its historical roots back to the founding of the port town of Helena in 1833 on the Mississippi River. Helena was occupied by the Union Army early in the American Civil War. The city of Helena was the site of the Battle of Helena fought in 1863. The battle was started by Confederate forces in an unsuccessful attempt to oust the Union Army from Helena. The Confederate goal was to use win victory in Helena in order to assist the important port city of Vicksburg, Mississippi from having to surrender to Union forces there. Helena later served as the launching point for the Union Army in the capture of Little Rock, the state capital, later in the year.

The city grew into a thriving blues community in the 1940s and 1950s. The city continued to grow until the closing of Mohawk Rubber Company, a subsidiary of Yokohama Rubber Company, in the 1970s. Unemployment surged shortly after. [Delta Dreams documentary airing on PBS Dec. 19, 2007]

Today, Helena-West Helena is home to just over 15,000 people, the Delta Cultural Center, the Pillow-Thompson House (owned and operated by the Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas), the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival (previously known as the King Biscuit Blues Festival) held each October and a Confederate Army Generals Graveyard, which holds the remains of seven Confederate Army generals. [Helena-West Helena, AR Historical Marker at the intersection of US 49 and US49B]

History

The city's roots trace back to the founding of the city of Helena in 1833, along a port on the Mississippi River. Crowleys Ridge provided elevation and some protection against flooding, a rare feature along the right/west bank of the lower Mississippi River. During the Civil War, the Union Army occupied Helena prior to the Battle of Helena in 1863. In the early morning hours of July 4, 1863, Confederate forces attempted to retake Helena in order to help relieve pressure on the strategic river town of Vicksburg, Mississippi. However, Confederate forces in Vicksburg had already arranged to surrender to General U.S. Grant on the morning of July 4th. Many of the old battle sites are still intact and several historians agree that Helena is in a unique position to develop and protect these historic areas. Prior to consolidation, Helena contained 6,323 people within 23.1 km². Neighboring West Helena had 8,689 people in 11.5 km². Merger proposals began as early as at least 2002 and a March 2005 vote among citizens of both cities approved the merger. The surrounding county is one of the poorest of Arkansas's 75 counties. Proponents of the consolidation stated that combining the cities would strengthen the bargaining power for its surrounding region in competing for projects to improve the overall economy and standard of living. Among the combined city's council's first tasks was the hiring of a new police chief, Vincent Bell.

24-hour curfew

The Helena-West Helena City Council city has imposed a 24-hour curfew in response to a rash of violence that has recently plagued the city.cite news|author=Associated Press|url=http://www.helena-arkansas.com/news/x1570384758/Ark-city-neighborhood-under-24-hour-curfew|title=Ark. city neighborhood under 24-hour curfew|work=Helena Daily World|date=August 11 2008|accessdate=2008-08-13] Originally, the curfew applied only to a high-crime, ten-block area of the city. However, on August 12, 2008, the city council voted to expand the curfew to any area of the city.cite news|author=John Gambrell, Associated Press writer|url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080813/ap_on_re_us/arkansas_town_curfew|title=Crime-ridden Arkansas town expands 24-hour curfew|work=Yahoo News|date=August 13 2008|accessdate=2008-08-13] Under the curfew, if local police find people on the street, they may stop them and question them. If the police are not satisfied with the people's explanations concerning their whereabouts and motive for being out, they may subject them to "additional attention." Up to now, the police have made several arrests in connection with the 24-hour curfew, ten of which have resulted in felony charges. However, Fred Fielder, the chief of police for Helena-West Helena, has stated that, to date, no one has been arrested specifically for violating the curfew. The curfew has been strongly protested by the American Civil Liberties Union, who say it violates the constitution. [cite web
url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/13/town.curfew.ap/index.html
title=ACLU cries foul as city nets arrests with 24-hour curfew
accessdate=2008-08-15
author=The Associated Press
date=2008-08-15
]

Demographics

Based on U.S. Census reports for both cities prior to the merger, the 2000 population of the area comprising Helena-West Helena was 15,012. There were 5,516 households, and 3,765 families residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 31.85% White, 66.63% African American, 0.19% Native American, 0.47% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.27% from other races, and 0.58% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.89% of the population.

The median income for a household in the city was $19,896, and the median income for a family was $23,274. Males had a median income of $25,087 versus $17,238 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,131.

Economy

With a median income of $19,896 for a household, the city is one of the poorest in the nation. One potential advance for the combined city, as reported by the "Arkansas Democrat-Gazette" on July 12, 2006, [cite web
url=http://www.dra.gov/media/article_detail.aspx?articleID=63
title=Ethanol refiner sets sights on Delta
publisher=Delta Regional Authority
accessdate=2006-10-31
] is an ethanol fuel refinery to be built by Las Vegas-based E-Fuels. Whether the consolidation had any bearing on the decision is not certain. Should the project come to fruition, the addition is expected to bring a significant increase in traffic to the region's port on the Mississippi River as well as several new jobs.

A more recent development is the effort to reopen the city's regional landfill, from which Helena-West Helena could also potentially reap economic benefit. Closed on June 30 , the facility reopened by 2007, according to a newspaper report in "The Daily World". [http://www.helena-arkansas.com/articles/2006/07/25/news/news2.txt]

Helena-West Helena's chief economic influence continues to be agriculture, specifically cotton cultivation. Barge traffic at the city's port on the Mississippi River is another significant factor, in addition to retail and tourism.

Musical history

It has been said that Helena was a little Chicago back in the 1940s and 1950s because, much like Chicago, blacks from rural Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta were arriving. They were drawn to Helena because they could make money there. By then Helena was 70% black and wild music joints employed blues pianist such as Sunnyland Slim, Memphis Slim and Roosevelt Sykes.cite book
first=Robert
last= Palmer
year=1981
title=Deep Blues
edition= 1rst
publisher= Penguin Books Ltd.
location=
id=ISBN 0-14-006223-8
]

In November 1941, a white businessman put together the staff for the town's first radio station KFFA. A group of blues musicians were given a one-hour radio spot on the condition that they sign a sponsor, which King Biscuit Flour agreed to do. Thus was born King Biscuit Entertainers and the beginning of King Biscuit Time, eventually leading later to the popular King Biscuit Blues Festival, renamed Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival in 2005, one of the largest free blues festivals in the world. [url=http://www.kingbiscuittime.com/radio.html
title=King Biscut Time Radio
publisher=
accessdate=2006-11-06
]

Education

Higher education

* Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas

Private education

* DeSoto Academy

Public education

* Central High School - Grades 9-12 High School, located in West Helena..
* Eliza Miller Junior High School - Grades 7-8 Junior High School, located at the western junction of U.S. Highway 49 and U.S. Highway 49-B.
* Beechcrest Elementary School - Grades 1-6 Elementary School, located in West Helena.
* J.F. Wahl Elementary School - Grades 1-6 Elementary School, located in Helena.
* Westside Elementary School - Grades 1-6 Elementary School - located in West Helena.
* Woodruff Kindergarten School - Grade K, located in West Helena.
* Stars Academy - Alternative School, located in Helena.
* KIPP Delta College Preparatory School - a public charter middle school located in downtown Helena-West Helena,serving grades 5-8. A member of the national KIPP charter school network. The fifth, seventh and eighth grade mathematics and literacy scores outperform the state of Arkansas average. [http://www.deltacollegeprep.org/results.htm]
* KIPP Delta Collegiate - a public charter high school located in downtown Helena-West Helena, currently serving grades 9-11. A member of the national KIPP charter school network. The 115 student school became the seventh KIPP high school in the nation in the 2008-2009 school year.

Famous residents

*John Hanks Alexander - second African-American West Point graduate
*John Allin - presiding bishop of Episcopal Church
*Terry Buckalew-radio host and musician.
*Fred Childress - all-star football player in Canadian Football League
*Patrick Cleburne - Confederate Civil War General
*Ken Hatfield - college football coach at Clemson, Air Force, Arkansas, and Rice
*Alex Johnson, Major League Baseball playercite book |editor=Reichler, Joseph L.| title=The Baseball Encyclopedia |origyear=1969 |edition= 4th edition |year= 1979|publisher= Macmillan Publishing |location= New York|language= |id= ISBN 0-02-578970-8 ]
*Mary Lambert, music video director
*Blanche Lincoln, U.S. Senator from Arkansas
*Robert Lockwood, Jr., blues musician and stepson of Robert Johnson
*Robert Lee McCollum, blues musician
*John Stroger, Jr., longtime president of the Board of Commissioners of Cook County, Illinois
*Roosevelt Sykes - blues pianist
*Conway Twitty (born Harold Lloyd Jenkins), country music star and his family moved to Helena from Friars Point, Mississippi when he was 10 years old
*Ellis Valentine - former Major League Baseball player
*Sonny Boy Williamson II, blues musician
*Richard Wright, author of such works as Black Boy and Native Son

References

External links

* [http://www.aetn.org/production/programs/deltadreams/full_synopsis Delta Dreams] , A PBS Documentary of the story of Helena-West Helena told by residents of helena - men and women, young and old, who live and work in the community.
* [http://www.mainstreethelena.org/ Main Street Helena] , information regarding Downtown Helena-West Helena
* [http://www.helena-arkansas.com/documents/ Consolidation information archive] from "The Daily World"
* [http://www.ualr.edu/cehathaway/hwh/index.htm/ Transition information archive] from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock
* [http://www.deltacollegeprep.org/ KIPP Delta College Prep] , Helena's KIPP School
* [http://www.helenaharbor.com/ HelenaHarbor.com] , the official site of the Phillips County Port Authority, with general Helena-West Helena community information
* [http://hwh.grsc.k12.ar.us/ Helena-West Helena District Schools] , website of the public schools in Helena-West Helena
* [http://www.pccua.edu/ PCCUA] , the community college
* [http://www.pccua.edu/pillowthompson/ The Phillips-Thompson House] , a publicly owned mansion in Queen Anne architecture in Helena
* [http://www.deltaculturalcenter.com/ The Delta Cultural Center] , the site for the Delta Cultural Center
* [http://www.civilwarbuff.org/helena.html/ Helena Civil War Archives] , information about the civil war in Helena
* [http://www.arkansas.com/group-travel/media-room/display.asp?id=512/ Helena Tourist Information] , from the Arkansas Tourist Website


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