Heber and Overgaard are two mountain towns that grew into one name, high on the Mogollon Rim in the pines. This map runs from Heber out to Overgaard and prints Mogollon High School, Mountain Meadows Primary, the Rim Community Library, Tall Timbers County Park, the Heber-Overgaard Community Resource Network and the Black Mesa Ranger District Office, with Buckskin Wash and Jones Hollow stream in the land around them.
Heber-Overgaard is a census-designated place in Navajo County, at 6,627 feet on top of the Mogollon Rim.
KNOWOL made this map in 2026 and gave it the look of an old atlas. The shaded relief of the landscape comes from United States Geological Survey elevation data, and the streets were drawn from Census Bureau files. Heber and Overgaard are technically two unincorporated communities, but they sit so close together that by the 1990 census they shared the name Heber-Overgaard. The community covers 6.9 square miles in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, and 2,898 people lived here at the 2020 census.
Four families stayed
Mormon settlers on the Little Colorado River were struggling with drought by 1882, and John Bushman of Allen’s Camp, today’s Joseph City, was sent to scout the forests to the south, where dry farming was thought to be easier. He set out on December 6, 1882, with five other men, and by April 13, 1883, two cabins stood and grain was in the ground. Only four families stayed, the Hewards, Scarlets, Nielsons and Shelleys, and of those James and Margaret Shelley were the only ones to make Heber their home for good. Lehi Heward’s wife Elisabeth made him a pair of buckskin chaps, and Buckskin Canyon, where he settled, was named for them.
The town’s name has two stories. Heber J. Grant, a church apostle called “The Arizona Apostle” for his many trips here, once stayed with the Shelleys in their cabin on his way to Phoenix, and the townspeople later named their settlement for him. The other account says John Scarlett named it for Heber C. Kimball. The Heber post office opened in 1890 with James Shelley as postmaster, and mail came by buckboard from Holbrook every Wednesday. In 1891 John Hoyle, born Johann Frederick Heil in Baden, Germany, and once a cook for the Hashknife Outfit, opened Heber’s first store; some cowboys couldn’t say his name, so they called him Hoyle. He also farmed down Buckskin Wash. Many families lived on potatoes, corn, milk and eggs from the farms of Black Canyon and the forest clearings, and Alva Porter’s farm became the rodeo grounds, where Mogollon High School sits today.
Click to explore a larger preview. The digital watermark does not appear on printed maps.
Oklahoma Flats becomes Overgaard
By the 1930s Heber was a logging town, and horses hauled the logs until 1965. Chris Overgaard came to Arizona in 1936, “lured by the lush stands of Ponderosa.” His mill came in pieces by train to Holbrook and then by wagon to “Overgaard’s stop,” a place first called Oklahoma Flats that later took his name. The Overgaard post office opened on October 14, 1938. On June 4, 1973, after American Legion Post 86 gathered the signatures for an election, voters set up the Heber-Overgaard Fire District by unanimous vote.
The Fourth of July has been a big day here since the early settlers, who held rodeos, races and a dance. The first Fourth of July parade ran in 1976, and it now draws crowds upwards of 20,000. On July 4, 1980, Les Parham put on the first of 39 years of fireworks shows, paid for entirely by the people who came to watch, and the show now lights up the Mogollon High School fields. Heber-Overgaard held its first Oktoberfest at Tall Timbers County Park in 1988. The country rock band Mogollon formed in Overgaard in the early 1980s, taking its name from the Rim. The Apache-Sitgreaves Observatory, on Overgaard’s east side, opened to the public in 2017 with a 36-inch telescope that the community’s page calls the largest dedicated public telescope in Arizona.
Immediately south of town, the Mogollon Rim drops 1,000 to 2,000 feet from its base to its highest plateau, dividing the northern plateau country from central and southern Arizona. As of 2010, nearly two thirds of the houses here were second homes, and the summer population climbed to nearly 12,000. Mountain Meadows Primary teaches the youngest grades, and the Rim Community Library, the Heber-Overgaard Community Resource Network and the Black Mesa Ranger District Office have their places on the sheet. Jones Hollow stream gives the land its shape.
This Heber-Overgaard map is a good addition to an office, library or den, and it can help teach children the geography and history of the area. It’s made for anyone who calls Heber-Overgaard home, and KNOWOL created it in 2026 to show the town as it looks today. Zoom in on the preview above to explore the details, then click here to get your copy of the Heber-Overgaard map.
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