Here, J. M. Guthrie established a logging settlement consisting of five frame houses, a store room, stables, a blacksmith shop, and several other outbuildings in the 1880s.

[3] By 1894, the lumber business had diminished significantly; Guthrie was facing difficult financial times and his lands were sold at a sheriff's sale in June 1896 to J. M. Stewart of Indiana, Pennsylvania.

Weaver accumulated considerable holdings in Pine, Green, and Cherryhill Townships and by 1904 was ready to begin building a “model town” to support his expanding mining operations nearby, which he named “Heilwood,” and was probably a combination of his nickname (“Heil”) and the name of his first coal mine in Kingwood (Preston County), West Virginia (“Heisleywood”).

This concept involved building, from the ground up, a fully-functioning modern town with amenities typical for the time, such as a school, church, boarding house, company store, policing, hotel, and a hospital.

In theory, the company provided construction capital and filled some roles of a local government, such as maintaining public spaces and paying the salary of certain school officials, while workers and their families rented housing on a monthly basis.

Still, life in a model town with these conveniences, guaranteed work, and a stable community were preferable to the lives many left behind and by 1905, 494 men were employed across five mine complexes, producing approximately 100,000 tons of coal annually.

Following the purchase, the Penn Mary Coal Company appointed Harry P. Dowler to replace James Starford as General Superintendent.

The Indiana Evening Gazette reported that the newly appointed Dowler would receive a “snug salary” of $6,000 a year, plus rent—in stark contrast to the shanty town skirting Heilwood, he resided in a stately Greek-revival mansion on a leafy avenue reserved for supervisory personnel and featuring luxuries such as indoor plumbing.

He also continued expanding the town, overseeing construction of a new school, company offices, the Catholic church, additional housing for the miners, and homes for supervisory personnel.

Following the closure of mine #11 and without any other significant industry, Heilwood became less viable as a large, independent town and most residents moved to neighboring cities.