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Churches |
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Without a dedicated church building, Heilwood's early Roman Catholics conducted their services in the Town Hall. Priests residing at the rectory in nearby Cameron's Bottom traveled by horse and buggy (provided by the Penn Mary Coal Company) to conduct Sunday services. This arrangement continued until sometime in the 1909-1911 period, when the coal company donated a piece of ground and constructed a wooden-frame church located at the corner of Pine Street and First Avenue (top-left photo). Earl Nupp of Green Township (aka Starford) Lumber Company was the general contractor for the building (see second photo at left). In 1919, the Reverend Charles B. Black became the first “resident” priest, living on First Avenue in the former doctor's office. Sadly, tragedy would eventually strike both the church and the life of Reverend Black! He served the parish until tragedy struck. On Sunday, August 10, 1930, Rev. Black and Joseph Best, the supervisor of construction for the newly opened highway from Heilwood to Penn Run, were in a car that left the road surface and overturned. Reverend Black was taken to the Heilwood hospital, where Dr. George Lyons pronounced him dead within a few minutes of arrival. Joseph Best survived the accident. Reverend Joseph G. Harder became the next parish priest. It was during his charge that a new, totally free rectory at 38 First Avenue was made available to the church. On February 13, 1934, Reverend Harder, who had been ill for several weeks, died from complications of pneumonia. Shortly after his death, another tragedy stuck the church. Somewhere in the early hours of March 5, 1934, a fire was discovered in the church building. By the time the volunteer firemen arrived, the building was doomed. The efforts of the firemen were directed towards saving an adjacent home, but the church itself was a total loss. So once again, the church members conducted Sunday services in the Town Hall. A temporary priest, the Reverend A. C. Marzhauser, was appointed to take Harder's place. This “temporary” appointment continued until 1958. During Reverend Marzhauser’s charge, a new church was built on the ruins of the old church. Having discussed the construction plans with the coal company, the contractor (Contrucci Masonry of Alverda) and members of the church gathered stones from old building foundations on “Sunnyside,” “The Green,” and Ballando’s farm, and transported them to town for use in the new building (bottom-left photo). The new church was erected and the first mass was conducted on October 5, 1937.
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| According to Penn Mary Coal Company records, the Protestant church was under construction in the summer of 1907. While the specific builder is not known, we do know that the Punxsutawney Cycle Company and the Freas Cyclery, both from Punxsutawney, were wiring the building, and Indiana Hardware of Indiana, Pa. was installing the heating system. The A. H. Andrews Company of Chicago supplied the pews. The “union church” (as it was initially known) served Heilwood as a gathering place for many denominations. Without a permanent minister of its own, the church was served by various area ministers. Reverend J. A. Lesh, from the Indiana, Pa. Normal School, provided leadership in 1910 and 1911, and the Reverend H. L. Smith followed, serving from 1911 to 1912. At this time, a meeting was called to discuss the church’s organization, and after considerable discussion the congregation unanimously decided to ask the Kittanning Presbytery to organize a Presbyterian church in Heilwood. Reverend Dr. John B. Worrall of Cherry Tree, Reverend William J. Sproull of Penn Run, and Elder W. N. Nelson of Clymer were appointed by the Kittanning Presbytery to form the requested organization, and on October 24, 1912, the Heilwood Presbyterian church was effected! For the next 11 months, various supply preachers and elders would once again lead the worship. On October 13, 1913, the congregation met and by a unanimous vote called upon Reverend Daniel Clifton Schnebly of Cherry Tree to be the first pastor at Heilwood. He was offered a salary of $900, plus free rent/lights/water/coal and a four-week vacation, for 3/4 of his time (the other 1/4 of his time was to be given to the Nebo church). On December 9, 1913, Reverend Schnebly was duly installed by the Reverend A. L. South from the Clymer Presbyterian church. But this arrangement didn't last. In March 1915, the congregation reluctantly met with Reverend Schnebly to act upon his request that his pastoral relationship with both the Heilwood and Nebo churches be dissolved. The congregation met on July 17, 1915 and voted to call the Reverend Jonathan C. Kelley of Darlington, Pa., to become the new pastor. He accepted and was installed as the second pastor of both the Heilwood and Nebo charges in August 1915. The next two years would be a time of growth and turmoil in the church. Membership was reported at 73 and Sunday school attendance was 126. However, as Reverend Kelley wrote:
Despite these difficulties, the remaining church members were faithful! Attendance at Sunday school grew to 166 members. Even so, on April 8, 1917, Reverend Kelley asked for and received his release by a nearly unanimous vote of the members. Reverend Robert Fulton Sterling of Dauphin, Pa. was then asked to be the new minister. He accepted and was installed on September 28, 1917. The next several years saw an increase in both members and contributions to the church, as it climbed out of debt. All was well until March 1919, when the church was ordered closed by the local Board of Health due to the influenza epidemic. This closure had a profoundly negative effect on church membership! On July 31, 1919, the pastorate of the Reverend Sterling ended as he had accepted a call from the Marble Church in Broomall, Pa. Within three weeks, the call went out to Reverend William Gray Alter of Glen Campbell, Pa. to become the new minister. But his pastorate was cut short by ill health, and he resigned on January 30, 1921. Reverend L. E. Duffield of the Cherry Tree church was appointed moderator of the Heilwood church until a new pastor could be installed. Reverend Walter E. Ruch from the Sharpsville Baptist church was the next minister, asked to serve on July 3, 1921 and installed on July 22. The next several years saw a rebound in both membership and Sunday school attendance. It was during this period of growth that a local coal strike resulted in the Governor of Pennsylvania stationing over 100 National Guard troops in the community to "preserve and maintain the peace." The Heilwood Presbyterian church reached out to these troops by reserving a section of seats for those who attended Sunday services. The years 1924 and 1925 saw the high-water mark of both church membership and Sunday school attendance - the former reached 154 and the latter 194. But on Saturday evening, January 9, 1926, a fire was discovered in the church, and although it was brought under control without loss of the structure, the interior suffered damage of about $5,000. Church services were subsequently moved to the Town Hall and Sunday school was held in the local public school. The Bethlehem Mines Company took responsibility to have the church repaired. 11 months later, on November 28, 1926, the newly repaired church conducted services with special music and a sermon by Reverend R. M. Offutt of the Kittanning Presbytery. Church membership suffered during this period, with membership reported at 112 and Sunday school enrollment at 124. Reverend Ruch preached his final sermon on May 29, 1927. The pulpit was vacant for the majority of the next three years with the exception of the one-year pastorship of Reverend G. Matthew Jordan. On October 19, 1930, the congregation extended the call to the Reverend C. Leroy Deprefontaine. His installation service took place on January 21, 1931 after which the clerk of the sessions, J. R. Duncan, noted that, "This seems to be the beginning of a wonderful pastorate." The following years proved those words to be true. The church grew in membership and evangelism, and the Sunday school formed their own orchestra. On October 3, 1937, the congregation met and dissolved pastoral relations between Reverend Deprefontaine and the Heilwood church. |
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SAINTS PETER'S & PAUL'S GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH Although the Penn Mary Coal Company donated land and built churches for both the Presbyterians (1907) and the Roman Catholics (1909) in Heilwood, there is no record that they donated anything to residents of the Greek Catholic faith. Between 1905 and 1915, the Greek Catholic residents of Heilwood could attend services either in Barnesboro (St. John’s Byzantine Greek Catholic Church) or Clymer (St. Michael’s Greek Catholic Church). Several families from Heilwood and Dixonville later established the St. Mary’s Russian Orthodox Church in Dixonville, which appeared in Russian Orthodox Church directories until about 1935. According to Heilwood residents, the earliest Greek Catholic church services held in Heilwood were conducted in a vacant home on Point Street in Sunnyside. These services were probably conducted by priests sent from the Clymer or Barnesboro churches (see a list of Clymer priests below). The first mention of an established Greek Catholic church building was in the 1920s, when a vacant shanty at the lower end of Chestnut Street (Doctor’s Row) was converted into a house of worship (#255 - see map at left ). A family from Pineton donated a bell from the abandoned Pineton School to the church members, who in turn constructed a belfry for it on the shanty. Services were conducted in this structure by priests from St. Michael’s in Clymer, who traveled to Heilwood by train, until the early 1940s. The congregation was responsible for compensating the priests for their services. In the early 1940s, house #30 on Chestnut Street (formerly the meeting place for the local Monte Grappa lodge) was converted by church members to serve as their new place of worship. Members of the congregation added a steeple to the lower end of the building, and installed the same bell that had been removed from the shanty church. They also installed a double set of doors (see pictures at left). The interior of the church was finished and furnished with seating, religious icons, and other items that were either donated or purchased by the families that attended the church at the time (see photos below). Without a central heating system, the church was kept warm by a pot-bellied stove that a church member would attend to prior to services. There was no resident priest, but the previous practice of a having a priest come from Clymer to administer to this church continued. In 1944, the Monroe Coal Company sold the church and lot to the Trustees of St. Peter’s and Paul’s Greek Catholic Church for $50 (see related receipts below).
Though membership was limited to a small number of families, donations and fund-raising activities such as dances held in Alverda allowed them to maintain the church and continue services until the mid-1960s, at which time it closed.
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