View of Heilwood, Pennsylvania, circa 1907.

1911 map of Heilwood. Click on it to see a larger version.

A 1907 map of Heilwood - possibly the "original" layout of the town, suggesting at least two separate plans for the town.

A 1907 memo sent from Possum Glory, Pa.

An unused stock certificate (#35 for $50) for the Possum Glory Water Company, dating to about 1903. The stockholders were all from the Indiana area, and apparently had no direct connection to the later founding of the town in 1904.

HEILWOOD'S EARLY HISTORY

In 1850, a portion of Wheatfield Township (located in Indiana County, Pennsylvania) was sectioned off to create Pine Township. The new township was so-named because of the extensive pine forests within its borders.

It was within these forests, probably in the 1880's, that J.M. Guthrie, a lumber man, established a settlement called Guthrie's Mills. It consisted of a store, gristmill, sawmill and about 15 houses.

Over time, this area came to be known as Possum Glory. Edward R. Sutton, an employee of Guthrie's, is credited with coining the name due to the preponderance of possums in the area.

Prosperity was short-lived. Around 1894, the lumber business began to diminish and Guthrie was facing difficult financial times. Unable to acquit himself with his creditors, Guthrie's lands were sold at a sheriff's sale to J.M. Stewart of Indiana, Pa.

Within four years, Stewart would sell these same lands to a coal broker from Philadelphia by way of Williamsport - John Heisley Weaver (his full biography is here). By 1904, Weaver had considerable holdings in Pine, Green, and Cherryhill Townships and was ready to begin building his own “model town.” He named it Heilwood, which was probably a combination of his nickname (“Heil”) and the name of his first coal mine in Kingwood (Preston County), West Virginia (“Heisleywood”).

1907 MAP OF HEILWOOD

Although most people can easily discern the present layout of Heilwood in the 1911 map shown at left, few people have ever seen the map directly below it, from 1907 (see maps at left).

On this earlier one, the town is still arranged along rectangular lines of survey, but the location is further to the northeast of its actual location. J.H. Weaver began construction of the present-day layout as early as 1904, but this 1907 map suggests that at least two separate plans for the town originally existed!

John Heisley Weaver, circa 1902

J.H. Weaver & Company letterhead