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History · St. Helena

St. Helena’s post office opened in 1857, and 44% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and Rectory. Below: maps from 1985 on and the census since 1880.

1857first post office
1on the National Register
44%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How St. Helena began

When was St. Helena founded?

1857

The St. Helena post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 200 in 18802020 census: 89169 years
Founding year: the first St. Helena post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about St. Helena’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of St. Helena are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of St. Helena’s homes were built before 1948.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start St. Helena’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how St. Helena’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How St. Helena came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of St. Helena.

Read it all →

St. Helena was settled in 1858. It once served as county seat.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

St. Helena, 1857 to 1985

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857Post officeThe Saint Helena post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1979Born hereJustin Bruening is born here
  5. 1985On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

St. Helena, decade by decade

Today2 recent
St. Helena, Nebraska from S2010St. Helena, Nebraska from SNEMap-doton-St Helena2005NEMap-doton-St Helena
On the map

St. Helena on the map in 1985

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of St. Helena.

St. Helena on the 1985 USGS map1985Yankton sheet · 1:100,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of St. Helena.

On the National Register

1 historic place in St. Helena

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
2001
Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and Recto…
Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and Rectory
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Gothic Revival1
Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and RectoryGothic Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

St. Helena, census by census

010020018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 200

Between 63 and 200 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on St. Helena’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Old corners

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Saint Helena

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about St. Helena’s history

What year was St. Helena founded?

The St. Helena post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in St. Helena?

One place: the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and Rectory (listed 2001).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.