PROSPERITY, Pennsylvania — How this little village earned its name is rooted in an old tale featuring a common last name, one-in-a-million odds, and a likely exaggeration about how many settlers were attracted to the middle of the frontier.

“It was founded in 1848 by a gentleman named Robert Wallace,” explained Clay Kilgore, executive director of the Washington County Historical Society. “When he got the tract of land, he built a house on one of the lots he had laid out and then began selling more lots. It was not exactly the most favorable location for a town. There were a few Native American trails that went down by it, but not to it.”