Karnes County, Texas
Helena is home to 7 official Texas Historical Commission markers — each one telling a piece of the city’s story. Browse the markers below, then find them on the map and discover more nearby with RoadHistorical.
Soon after Karnes County was created and organized in 1854, a frame and clapboard courthouse was erected at this site in the center of Jefferson Square. This rock structure was built in 1873 to replace the first…
View on map ↗Founded in 1852 on San Antonio River by Thomas Ruckman, a graduate of Princeton, and Lewis Owings, later first governor of Arizona Territory. Town was named in honor of Owings' wife, Helen. Situated on branch of famed…
View on map ↗After centuries of use by buffalo and Indians, this trail from San Antonio to the Texas coast gained importance when opened to colonial travel by the Alarcon Expedition in 1718. Spanish conquistadores and priests, the…
View on map ↗(November 8, 1826 - December 2, 1914) Founding father of Karnes County, Ruckman was born in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. He graduated in 1848 from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and taught…
View on map ↗Example of religious toleration in frontier Texas. Site was used early as 1866 by Methodists, whose church was "free to any Christian denomination for...worship, (and) subject to use of...Helena School". Trustees of…
View on map ↗Ruckman (Nov. 9, 1835 - Jan. 8, 1913), born in Northumberland County, Pa., came to Texas in 1856 to join his older brother Thomas, co-founder of Helena. Landing at Indianola on his 21st birthday, he came here to spend…
View on map ↗According to oral tradition, the Harmony Baptist Church began in 1864. A church building was constructed by 1875, when Thomas Ragsdale donated land at this site to the church. The building was used also for school…
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