Helena, Oklahoma ||| population 1,537 ||| small town, USA

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Helena, Oklahoma, is a very interesting place to visit. Besides the history of the town, they have a very unique way to count their population because of a prison in town. It's a much smaller town than appears on paper. Regardless, it is still a fun place to visit and I enjoyed myself while strolling around town!
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[@williammatzek4660]

Wise guy late 50's early 60's we lived in northern Sumner county. Saturday morning down town Mulvane was a busy place.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Very cool 😎

[@rosiemcnaughton9933]

Really nice, clean, well-cared for little town. Would be interesting to see what it's like during the week when there are some people out. No, I'm not suggesting a video visit of that. 😁 Thanks for the trip.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thanks! I agree. I feel like it would be a fairly busy area. There were many families out and about that day.

[@dahcdrabbuh3037]

Lol well cared for roads are shit here. I had to go fix a pot hole myself because it would almost eat your car. You need gasoline better have a 4x4 it's nothing but a huge pot hole at the gas station, plus gas is always 50 cents more than Enid. Workers at the gas station are awesome. But the owner sucks, trying to pay it off in one year with his expensive prices. I hate this town.

[@francisbarlow9904]

An interesting point about Helena is that it is in Alfalfa county. Alfalfa in the USA is an agricultural crop (Medicago sativa) and is known as Lucerne here in Great Britain. It is a member of the clover family and is very useful as a livestock feed in its green form and is usually grown in leys (pastures) with grasses such as Italian rye grass here. Is the county named after the amount of Alfalfa grown in the area? Wow, imagine a town being majority convicts, but then you do have tenancies to imprison people who cannot afford their fines and then making them to work for a living, probably as a result of privately run gaols (jails).... (not a criticism, just an observation) here in the UK it would be labelled as slavery lol (not by me). Thanks for this shorty John, very interesting!

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Good message! So this is the first of several videos I’m doing about the county. Yes it was named after the grass grown - kind of. There was also a man with that nickname who it was named after.

[@francisbarlow9904]

@@TravelwithaWiseguy Carl Switzer? I remember about my Dad talking about his character lol

[@ronfullerton3162]

Quiet little town. Good place for an old farm boy like me to hang out. Why should we not be surprised that the government would have something to do with the fluctuating population numbers? Thanks again for another look at one of our small communities!

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thanks! First time I have heard of that too!

[@thoward4051]

Good overview Coach! Upon seeing the extreme fluctuations in the census of Helena, it’s obvious that it could have died and become a ghost (or ghostly) town during one of the sudden drops in population. I’m glad it survived.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Me too! Interesting history there!

[@stevehilliard1495]

This past weekend we went to a wedding in Olathe Ks and on the way home we stopped at Old Trading Post Ks because of the Wise Guy video. The museum wasn’t open but toured the cemetery, then went & toured Fort Scott. Thanks for your influence. God bless🤓

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Awesome! Too bad the museum wasn’t open.

[@papabear562]

That's an interesting little town. Who would have thought that OK would locate a prison there. That's just weird. Great video coach, and yay, you found some playground equipment!

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

I know right!?!? Thank you 😊

[@mikebritton8798]

Judging from the population numbers, it looks like there are more inmates than full-time residents. The countryside looks so flat. I'm used to being surrounded by hills and trees. Thanks for the tour.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Yes there are. I’m guessing about twice as many!

[@dahcdrabbuh3037]

It's a very judgmental town, people are fake and 2 faced. Who you know and who you blow town. It's full of simple minded people. I live here and regret moving here. And school is horrible all they care about is sports, and it's too small to care about sports, like they do they practice during school hours I never did that when I went to school it was after hours your practicing for sports, they go all out like they produce professional athletes lol.. if your not from here or less fortunate and don't have a lot of money your not wanted here. I've never seen so many parents take their kids out of school and do home school, and it's mostly people who relocated here. Their children get picked on and when your child fights back your child is wrong. Worst School ever. Elementary school is the worst of all, few very decent teachers there but the rest play favoritism, The only good thing in town is Scott's treats very good place and good people. Every time I take my truck out it's a drag truck the damn prison calls the sheriff on me they call on me all the time. Cause they have nothing better to do besides pick on me. Just a bunch of pig lickers and cow cuddlers here. Where the men are drunk and the livestock are nervous. They all look like they are all from the same family tree here, plus most of the women here are fat and think their shit doesn't stink. Sorry to piss on your party but it's the down right truth about this town.

[@brendacejda7069]

Curious on the timing of your video? The countryside looks very green in the shots from the air. Perhaps they've had rain. Looks like a tidy community. Thanks Coach!

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thanks! It was filmed a little over a week ago.

[@pigoff123]

Interesting story. Thanks for taking us along.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@megan7658]

Awesome video! Thanks for showing the prison facility so we know what happened to the old buildings that were used for the orphanage. My aunt and uncle have that playground equipment in their front yard! Kids were using it recently at my grandmas 94th birthday celebration.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thank you!

[@kaymerry369]

Neat . Impressive posted goal for the children education. Recycled their buildings kept town increasing. Forward thinking leaders. Interesting quite little town.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Absolutely! Glad they have continued to survive through the years!

[@bertholini2810]

Very nice video. I see you found another merry-go-round. Argh, yard work. Be good, be safe !!

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Yes I did! Always on the lookout 👀

[@mikehilliard3865]

Thank you for sharing. Back in my oilfield days I’ve traveled thru Helena a time or two.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Nice!

[@sueelliott3206]

Neat little town and what a crazy way of counting residents. Thanks for sharing and have a great week!

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thank you! You too!

[@onrycodger]

Good video! I'ma gonna comment to help the algorithm Man! Thumbs up!😎👍

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Much appreciated!

[@aliceevans3357]

Another interesting Oklahoma town. You can see the pride in community by how well the town and area is kept. GOD bless the small towns. Stay safe and GOD bless.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

So true! Thank you 😊

[@roberteshaw9520]

Hey Coach. I like the old still shots.The tanks look cool, @ peace. Labeling the stand pipe capacity was interesting. Happy Motoring.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thanks! Those are the only one I could find online. Cool to see what it used to look like!

[@mannyortiz4814]

My dear, thank you for the tour of Helena. You are right. It is interesting to hear the history of small towns America. Until next time. Please, take care and stay safe. Love ya 🍺🌞🌈👍🇺🇸❤️😇🌹🕊🙏

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Glad you enjoyed it - much appreciated!!

[@tinman7130]

Noticed that the man nattily dressed in the orange suit spotted you filming. Surprised you didn't get a hi mom. I rolled thru there once years ago heading north, home ward bound from a week of wandering. Downtown brought back some memories. This was a good one John.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Yeah and when he spotted me is when I hit the stop record button 😂

[@christopherray1901]

I’m planning multiple trips to photograph these small towns and I’m starting in Oklahoma since that’s where I live. Your videos are incredible thank you.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Sounds great! Appreciate that!!

[@juliogonzales5441]

THANKS COACH FOR THE MILES AND SMILES YOU GIVE US 😀 😅

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thank you 😀😀😀

[@John-kx3ng]

Was here in 2019, brings back memories! Thankyou!

[@juanitagarcia958]

There was no traffic in the downtown! That was interesting indeed. It always amazes me how slow the pace is in these areas. Great video and drone shots 😊

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

It’s always an unusual feeling sitting there in the middle of a town all alone 😊

[@SusanHL]

Great video as always, love the old buildings and the old black & white photos. Super interesting about Helena's population, reminds me of LA State Pen at Angola - more inmates than people actually living free in the town, although not sure Angola counts prisoners as population. I hope the prisoners in Helena appreciate those old buildings on the grounds of their facility, they looked amazing. ❤ the outtake!!

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thank you so much for your generosity! I had no idea when I arrived to the town that this was the story and I was sitting in the middle of downtown all alone and confused 😂😂 then a nice older lady stopped in at the post office and I asked her about it. Really interesting! Thanks again Susan!

[@peterselten500]

Hi john cool town thanks alot . Cheers mate🇦🇺

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

No problem 👍 fun history to learn about!

[@Scott.Newmaster]

We're all gonna have to take up a collection to get you your own merry-go-round aren't we. Don't think that you have missed one yet.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Ha! On this trip I saw one in someone’s backyard! Goals 😂

[@Bee-ru3bs]

I have family that still lives there. I spent all my summers when I was younger there with my grandparents. They would keep us grandchildren for the summer. My grandparents would give us a quarter and we would go get a shake at the café on main St

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

A quarter! 😊

[@justnerdystuff]

At 4:46 I see what I suppose is the roof of the auditorium of Timberlake H.S. and it makes me wonder how many students have climbed up that in the middle of the night to smoke weed or drink beer. I know I would have - not to smoke weed or drink beer, but just to be on top of the world and chill out with friends. At 5:40 there is another building with a roof sloped to the ground practically. I would have like living here, just to be able to climb up on those roof's.

[@SLlPPY-]

Lol im actually a student at timberlake, we really only go up there to hide when we are playing hide and seek, or when we are bored. I don’t doubt that back in the day that happened🤣

[@roughriderreturns5039]

Thank you, very much.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

You are welcome!

[@danielmoore7332]

Thanks again for another small town video, Jon. Some small towns have adopted the idea of housing inmates as a way to make money. Which in it's own way is kind of sad but... GO SHOCKERS!

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Interesting idea! Thank you!

[@victoriasanchez6821]

Es bonito tranquilo gracias por este video

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

gracias 😊

[@gh2687]

Great video and story

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Thank you!

[@brendaconkling3762]

My great grandmother is buried there!

[@larryclark4791]

Interesting,

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Very!

[@brucesmith9144]

Guess the prison is the #1 employer in town.

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Probably so!

[@user-yi6hw3cq8q]

By far. Most people here work for the government at the prison, school, post office, farm, or travel to Enid or surrounding areas for work.

[@bigcpatterson]

Check out my hometown of Ames Oklahoma. Is not far from there.

[@johnrinke8080]

I got to live there for 2 years behind the fence.

[@Partzman23]

👏👍😎

[@marcelinatejada53]

💪😮❤

[@anthonycroff7030]

I hope you hit up the little mennonite country/convenience store/deli while you were there.

[@tombillard5264]

not a long drive or walk to work at the prison lol

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

Very true 😊

[@johnellington1932]

Oklahoma Sooners Orange 😂

[@ronaldrader402]

John which drone do you use?

[@TravelwithaWiseguy]

DJI Mavic Pro 2. Highly recommended!

[@ARezWife]

Don't go off on your own down here .

[@ARezWife]

Safety in numbers .

[@samuelwyman5490]

I was raised on S Mainstreet. My dad had a shop here for 60 years.