Event Details

Helena

Montana County Seat Challenge

Helena, Montana; Lewis and Clark County

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Event Elevation: 3,996 feet

Helena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. Helena was founded as a gold camp during the Montana gold rush, and established on October 30, 1864. Due to the gold rush, Helena became a wealthy city, with approximately 50 millionaires inhabiting the area by 1888. The concentration of wealth contributed to the city's prominent, elaborate Victorian architecture. At the 2020 census Helena's population was 32,091, making it the 5th least populous state capital in the United States and the 6th most populous city in Montana. It is the principal city of the Helena Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Lewis and Clark, and Jefferson counties; the MSA's population being 83,058 according to the 2020 census.

Lewis and Clark County is a county located in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 70,973. Its county seat is Helena, the state capital. The county was established on June 2, 1865, as one of the nine original counties of the Territory of Montana named Edgerton County in honor of Sidney Edgerton, first Governor of the Territory of Montana, and was renamed Lewis and Clark County on March 1, 1868, in honor of explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.