Phillips County Court House

The territorial legislature carved Phillips County out of Arkansas County on May 1, 1820, and the same legislature gave permission for a town. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says the 640-acre site that became Helena was platted that December, on land that began as part of a Spanish grant. The town was not incorporated until 1833. Much of the original site lay in the Mississippi's floodplain and flooded until substantial levees were built in the late nineteenth century, while the ground west of town stayed dry enough for the first big cotton farms.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Elaine Massacre Memorial — steps away
  A memorial dedicated in 2019 in Helena for the Black people killed by white mobs and troops in the 1919 Elaine Massacre, the deadliest racial confrontation in Arkansas history.
• Delta Cultural Center — 0.4 mi
  A state museum in downtown Helena where King Biscuit Time, the longest-running daily blues radio show, is broadcast live from the Visitors Center.
• Freedom Park — 1.2 mi
  An outdoor Delta Cultural Center site on the ground of a Civil War contraband camp, where thousands of people who had escaped slavery sheltered and men enlisted.
• Mississippi River State Park — 11 mi
  A state park and gateway to the St. Francis National Forest, where the river, Crowley's Ridge and the Delta meet, with a Trail of Tears site at the Mississippi and St. Francis confluence.

More markers nearby

• Helena, Arkansas — steps away
• Phillips County, Arkansas — steps away
• Judge Jacob Trieber — steps away
• Seven Confederate Generals — steps away