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Zachary Coe
Zachary Coe: The Local Historian Bringing Helena Walking Tours to Life

Nestled in the heart of Montana’s hometown, Helena, the Foundation for Montana History serves as a bridge between the past and the present. If you’ve ever joined one of the popular Helena walking tours, chances are you’ve met the person guiding that bridge: historian and sixth-generation Helenan, Zachary Coe.

As the Foundation’s former Program Director, Zach has led thousands of visitors through Helena’s historic streets, sharing stories that span from the Gold Rush era to the present day. His tours aren’t dry recitations of dates and facts; they’re conversations that breathe life into Helena’s rich history. “There’s more than one way to be a teacher,” he said. “I think storytelling can do just as much as any classroom.”

From his office in Reeder’s Alley, the town’s oldest standing district, Zach spent his days preserving and interpreting Helena’s story, one tour at a time.

Roots That Run Deep

Zach’s connection to Helena stretches back through generations. He was born and raised here, part of a lineage that traces back to the early homesteading families of Marysville. “I believe I’m a sixth-generation Helena family,” he said. “My family had a homestead near town, but not technically in town. They’d more be considered Marysville residents, but long-time Helena roots.” 

His grandfather, Rich Coe, a firefighter with a love for local lore, sparked Zach’s curiosity about the past. “He had a real passion for Helena history and Montana history,” Zach reflected fondly. “He was very proud of our family and what they had accomplished in the community.” 

That legacy continues to guide Zach today. When he walks past the fire tower or along the same streets his grandfather once patrolled, he feels a thread of continuity and purpose. That sense of purpose stayed with him through his years at Montana State University. While he began in engineering, he ultimately switched paths to history. “I was always told there’s no career opportunities in history,” he said amusingly, “but I thought, if I’m going to be here, I want to do something I enjoy.” 

He went on to earn both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history, studying under professors Molly Todd and Michael Reidy, who became mentors and encouraged him to pursue public history, blending storytelling with preservation. After graduation, he worked briefly in youth drug and alcohol prevention before applying to the Foundation for Montana History, where he was promptly rejected, he recalled with a chuckle. 

Shortly after his rejection, however, he received an email from the Foundation’s CEO, Charlene Porsild, PhD. She wrote, “I see something in this application. Could you come in and meet with me?” Zach went in and, to his surprise, was offered an internship. By February 2022, he secured a full-time position. “She made a job for me, which was amazing,” he said with a deep sense of gratitude. 

Turning Passion into Profession

Launching Helena’s official tour program turned Zach’s lifelong love of history into a full-time calling and profession. The tours began modestly in 2020 and have since grown into one of Helena’s most engaging community experiences. 

The tours offer visitors and locals alike an opportunity to embark on a journey through the town’s rich and layered past. Zach’s goal isn’t just to educate; it’s to connect people to the place they’re standing. “I’ve taken thousands of people on tours around Helena,” he said. “It’s my passion to be in front of anybody who has an interest in the past.” 

When the walking tours first started, there was no office or storefront. It was just Zach and a small team walking the streets with clipboards and maps. “We were just out on the streets, boots on the ground, doing the work,” he said. 

Today, the program has a highly respected reputation and a permanent home in the well-suited, historic Reeder’s Alley, a fitting reward for its grassroots beginnings. True to his family’s values, Zach’s quick to shift the spotlight to others, honoring the shared effort and community support that shaped its success–a reminder that lasting things are built together, not alone. 

Seeing Strength in Stories: The Town That Rebuilds

The same perseverance that fueled Zach’s career also defines the town his family has called home for generations. Helena isn’t just a place he grew up; it’s a living testament to resilience and endurance. Standards that his family instilled long before he ever led a tour. 

In its early years, the town was struck by a series of devastating fires that destroyed entire blocks of the mining camp, including much of the business district along Last Chance Gulch. Each time, the community rebuilt stronger, determined to create something lasting. “If it burns down, it rebuilds,” Zach said. “If it’s destroyed by an earthquake, it rebuilds.” 

Today, at the end of Last Chance Gulch, you’ll find the Walking Mall, a lively downtown corridor lined with local shops, restaurants, and public art. For Zach, it’s the perfect example of how Helena honors its past while adapting to the present. “People are always fascinated by the Walking Mall,” he said. “They’re like, ‘Wow, you don’t see these anywhere.’” 

He’s mindful to recognize, though, that Helena’s story isn’t all grandeur. “I don’t want to make it all seem like it was sunshine,” he said. “There were some harsh realities here, too.” Zach is committed to sharing the raw, honest truths about the past, and on his tours, he includes the stories of Helena’s early Chinese, Jewish, and African American communities, voices often left out of traditional accounts. “I don’t want to duck those questions,” he said. “That’s what connects people more deeply to this place.” 

Helena’s history is one of both triumph and hardship. The town has reinvented itself time and again, and that same lifeblood runs through its streets today. When Zach talks about Helena’s journey to the present, it’s always through a personal lens. “Growing up, it was a quiet little town,” he said. “Now people are coming back, and they’re happy here. They want to be part of the community.” 

Many of those returning are friends he grew up with. People who, as he puts it, “became the change they wanted to see.” Their collective effort has brought new life to the town, proving that vibrancy doesn’t just happen; it takes time, heart, and community. 

Bridging Time Through Tradition

The same resilience that rebuilt Helena’s streets also sustains its traditions. Zach sees it not just in the town’s architecture, but in the rhythms of its community life, like the parades, festivals, and gatherings that tie generations together. 

He has a deeply personal connection to the Fire Tower overlooking Last Chance Gulch, one of Helena’s most enduring symbols and a cornerstone of the Helena Parade of Lights. “My family were firefighters when they first arrived here,” he said. “That fire tower has withstood everything, and it continues to represent the strength of this town.” 

Then there’s Gold Rush Days, a newer event that captures Helena’s familiar mix of grit and generosity, blending mining history with modern community heart. “There’s no guarantee you’ll make money or that people will even show up,” Zach said. “But they do, because people care.” 

Zach especially loves the Downtown Helena Art Walks, which fill galleries and sidewalks with live music, local artists, and families wandering from shop to shop. “It’s events like these that remind me why I love this town,” he said. “You can feel the connection between people and that shared sense of pride.”

For Zach, these traditions, both old and new, are proof that Helena’s heartbeat hasn’t changed. “There’s a standard of excellence,” he said. “People don’t just want to do something; they want it done well. The community holds you accountable, but it also supports you.” 

He’s felt that accountability firsthand. “When I first started doing tours, I might miss a date or a fact,” he said. “And I’d always have an eager local chime in to correct me, and I love that. It means they care.” 

That care and mutual investment, he says, is Helena’s legacy. There’s a culture of participation that keeps the town moving forward without losing sight of where it’s been. “People don’t just wait for someone else to fix things,” Zach said. “They take responsibility and move forward. That’s the kind of place I want to live.” 

Carrying the Story Forward

As a historian, Zach looks forward as much as he looks back. Just as the generations before him laid the groundwork for his path, he’s determined to do the same for those who follow. 

His goal is to create a professional development program for aspiring public historians, something he wished existed when he was a young professional. “I’d love to start something similar to an internship,” he said. “I want people to know that working in public history is a valid career option.” 

He sees the Foundation’s tour program as a model for how storytelling can spark connection, pride, and curiosity in younger generations. “Not everybody with a history degree is going to use it,” he said. “But if that’s what you want to do, people should be able to do that.” 

At home, Zach is also focused on writing a new chapter of Helena’s story in a much more personal way. He and his wife recently welcomed their daughter, Nora, a seventh-generation Helenan. Becoming a father has deepened his connection to the town and to the generations who came before. “It makes me think about what kind of place I want her to grow up in and what kind of example I’m setting for her,” he said.

Parenthood has also given Zach an even greater appreciation for balance, a reminder that caring for history also means making time to live it. When he takes time for himself, Zach finds respite in the same town he spends his days interpreting. He walks the quiet neighborhood above Reeder’s Alley, hikes Mount Helena, plays golf at local courses, and joins friends for trivia nights or brewery gatherings. Sometimes he simply goes for a drive, letting the familiar streets and expansive mountain views offer space to pause and reflect. 

“Those moments remind me that life isn’t all about history,” he said with a smile. “But they also remind me why I want to protect it.” 

A Dynamic Town, A Living Legacy

Helena has shaped Zach’s life just as much as he has helped shape its story. Through his tours, research, and community outreach, he gives voice to the people and places that built the town, and in return, Helena gives him a sense of purpose, grounding, and belonging. 

Their shared ethos is one of steadfastness, curiosity, and care for both history and community. In many ways, Zach reflects the same enduring character that defines Helena itself. A spirit that honors the past while shaping something lasting and inclusive for the future. 

More than 150 years after the fires that first tested its grit, Helena continues to evolve, not by forgetting its past but by learning from it. That’s what Zach loves most: watching old and new collide in ways that keep the town’s story alive. 

When asked to describe Helena in one word, Zach doesn’t hesitate: dynamic. His favorite symbol of that energy stands quietly on the Walking Mall, a bronze statue of a newsboy holding up a headline that reads “Capital City Prospers.” 

To him, it is more than a headline. It is a promise and a reminder that prosperity is something the town and its people build together. With each story he tells, Zachary Coe helps ensure that Helena’s next chapter will be just as alive, enduring, and full of heart as the ones that his own family told six generations ago.

Faces of Helena