St. Helena History
Founded in the early 1880's as a picturesque farming community, St. Helena grew from four streets and two blocks to a neighborhood of 194 homes by 1919.
The first railroad was built through St. Helena in 1882 to ship coal and iron to the Maryland Steel Company then ship the completed rails out of St. Helena. The plant would later be sold to Bethlehem Steel in 1919.
The first school opened in September of 1888 in the basement of St. Helena Presbyterian Church. A one room school house was opened in 1901 and educated 30 students. By 1919 the school expanded two three rooms and three classroom tents. By 1930 Dundalk Elementary School enrolled 1,012 students from nearby neighborhoods--including St. Helena. In 1980 St. Helena Elementary school closed its doors to students and reopened to community residents in DATE as the St. Helena Community Building.
It wasn't just the school that was growing. St. Helena had its own fire engine house after residents chipped in and purchased an enormous water tank on wheels with attached hoses, a church, post office, two stores and a telephone exchange.
St. Helena School
The Public school first opened its doors on Monday, September 8, 1898, located in the basement of a church on Patapsco Avenue in St. Helena. Students had no desks and used chairs belonging to the Sunday school. Two years later a one room school house was built This building is now the I.O.O.F Hall (Odd Fellows Hall), located at Baltimore and Willow Spring Road in St. Helena.
