What was the original name of Helena Montana?

Answer 1

The original miners initially named the small town Crabtown for one of them.

In the voting for final official name Tomah, Pumpkinville, Squashtown, Winona, and Rochester were all proposed before Helena.

The creek and surrounding area where gold was first found (slightly south of the town proper) is named Last Chance Gulch, but this has never been the name of the town.

Answer 2

Helena was founded by a group of gold prospectors called the Four Georgians in 1864 who considered it their Last Chance. Originally named Crabtown, after one of these prospectors John Crab. Later that year a vote was taken to select a name, after much debate and argument John Summerville proposed Helena in honor of Helena Township, Minnesota. This name eventually won, but the pronunciation (hel-E-na) lost, with most of the miners preferring HELL-ena. Arguments over pronunciation continued until about 1882, when HELL-enafinally became official and stayed that way ever since then.

Helena was the third territorial capital (after Nevada City and Virginia City) and when Montana became a state Helena naturally became the state capital.

Answer 3

it was not called anything until 1864, when prospectors first discovered the last chance placer there and began mining. its original name in 1864 was crab town, named after one of the prospectors: john crab.

Answer 4

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