Helena, AL news and local guide

In the last years of the war Montgomery merchants Hannon, Offutt and Company built the Central Iron Works, a rolling mill on Buck Creek; it had just begun running when Union cavalry under General James H. Wilson destroyed it on March 30, 1865, during raids of March 29 and 30 that wrecked mines, mills and furnaces. In 1873 R. W. Cobb, later governor, B. B. Lewis, later president of the University of Alabama, and Richard Fell reopened it to make Cobb's patented cotton ties and later nails; under various owners it ran until it was dismantled in 1923. The post office moved to Helena in 1872, mining engineer Joseph Squire laid out the town in 1875, and it was incorporated in 1877 with M. H. Williams as mayor. By 1910 it was the commercial center for nearby mining camps, and a concrete dam completed about 1913 gave it its first electricity. Sources The Historical Marker Database: Helena, Alabama (Alabama Tourism Department and the City of Helena) The Historical Marker Database: Central Iron Works (City of Helena and the Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission) Wikipedia: Helena, Alabama