The church was built in 1801–1802 as a fishermen's chapel on Holmön, an island in the Gulf of Bothnia, and was paid for by the islanders themselves. It is an octagonal timber building with two smaller extensions forming the porch and sacristy. Its name commemorates Helena Elisabeth Grahn, a merchant's wife from Umeå who donated the church's first communion set.
The chapel served the island community until 1891, when Holmön's larger new church was consecrated. After that, the old building fell out of religious use: for over sixty years it served as a barn and grain store, while the sacristy was put to work as a laundry and, at one point, a sheep shed. Much of the original interior fittings were lost or damaged during this period.
In 1955 the Holmön priest Sigfrid Landin purchased the disused church, and it was subsequently acquired by the Västerbottens museum foundation. It was dismantled and re-erected at Gammlia, near Sävargården, where it stands today. Following restoration, the church was reconsecrated in 1958 by Ivar Hylander, then Bishop of the Diocese of Luleå. The present furnishings are partly drawn from other churches and partly reconstructed, reflecting this eventful history.
Today the church belongs to Västerbottens museum, and Umeå's town parish holds regular services there. According to one source, the museum's board decided in 2003 to follow the Church of Sweden's rules and ceased offering the building for civil marriages, preferring to keep it functioning as a consecrated church rather than deconsecrate it for museum use.