By Rick Holben, East Mountain Historical Society
Helweg, shown on some New Mexico maps in the 1930s as a town in the Sandia Mountains, might qualify as a ghost town since nothing remains of it today. However, Helweg was really nothing more than a family homestead with a store and post office. It was located west of San Antonito at what is now Frost Road and Tumbleweed Road.
Ben Helweg, for whom the location was named, was born in Illinois in 1874 and came to Albuquerque in the 1880s. In 1897, he married his wife Jessie and shortly thereafter had a son Raymond. During his time in Albuquerque Ben worked several jobs, including as a fireman for the Santa Fe Railroad. He was also a member of The Albuquerque Browns baseball team.
In 1913, Ben and his family moved to the Sandia Mountains, filing a claim on 160 acres for which he received the patent in 1918.The family farmed pinto beans and operated a store that eventually included a gas station. In 1922, he received a patent for an adjoining 160 acres to the east.
In 1922, he received authorization to establish a post office at his store. On his post office application, Ben had requested that the office be called “Frost.” But without indicating a reason, the U.S. Post Office changed the name to “Helweg”. Though already closed by 1922, there had been another short-lived post office called “Frost” in Quay County, which may have been the reason for declining another office by the same name. Post office records show that the Helweg office received mail three times a week delivered on a star route from the Cedar Crest post office. The Helweg post office was closed in 1934 and the Helwegs closed the store, but moved the building it had housed off the main road in order to use it for storage near their farm house.
Ben and Jessie Helweg both died in 1946. Their descendants were involved with the creation of the Farmer- Helweg Bus company in the 1940s, which later became the Mountain Bus Company in San Antonito,, which operated there until 2010.