This July, 1913 scene is the oldest known picture of Helen, taken about a year after the town began to rise from the former fields of pioneer settler Henry Highland Conley. Helen was developed by wealthy Missourian John Mitchell, who acted in concert with the owners of the Byrd-Matthews sawmill. The original iron bridge across the Chattahoochee is already in place. Second-hand when it came to town, the bridge was moved twice in nearly ninety years of use before being retired from public service in 2001. Later Helenites were proud of the speed with which the Alpine conversion was accomplished, but it didn't take much longer to create the new town in the first place.