Wheeling, Westsylvania?: The Forgotten History of the “Almost” West Virginias Emma Wiley June 16, 2021 West Virginia Day is almost upon us and it is the 158th anniversary of West Virginia officially becoming a state. Approximately two years after deciding not to secede during the Civil War, West Virginia became ...
This Victorian Status Symbol is on Display at Oglebay Institute’s Glass Museum Betsy Sweeny June 9, 2021 Today the term status symbol evokes images of designer watches, an electric car, or even expensive sneakers. But in Victorian Wheeling, a vase for your celery was the way to let your dinner guests know you had ...
This Wheeling Bridge is the Oldest Surviving Bridge in West Virginia Emma Wiley June 2, 2021 The Elm Grove Stone Arch Bridge has become part of many Wheeling residents’ daily routines, connecting commuters to downtown and providing access to the main Elm Grove strip. Hundreds of cars pass over the Ston...
Solving History’s Mysteries: Nurses Edition Emma Wiley May 11, 2021 Do you recognize any of these people? These are all historic photos of Wheeling people, places, and things that need to be identified. Weelunk, Archiving Wheeling, and the Ohio County Public Library Archives ha...
The Day All of Wheeling’s Street Names Changed Emma Wiley May 10, 2021 Can you imagine the chaos if all of the street names and house numbers changed in Wheeling? The confusion, the misdirection, the lost residents? In July 1873, the Wheeling City Council passed an ordinance to do...
Help Us Solve History’s Mysteries!: Baseball Edition Emma Wiley April 28, 2021 A Partnership Between Weelunk, Archiving Wheeling, and the Ohio County Public Library Archives Do you recognize any of these people? These are all historic photos of Wheeling people, places, and things that ...
Three of the Funkiest Contests in Wheeling’s History Emma Wiley April 26, 2021 What is the weirdest contest that you’ve ever competed in? Throughout Wheeling’s history, there have been some funky contests—from twin-matching to babies and more! Some of the contests were just for fun, but s...
How an Ohio Valley Resident Became Black Baseball’s First Historian Emma Wiley April 23, 2021 Baseball is back in full swing for the season, and many of us are ready to take to the field or root for our favorite team as fans. While “America’s favorite pastime” has fostered interesting stories across the...
Spring Cleaning? How the Clean Blockers of the 1940s Can Inspire Today’s Volunteers Emma Wiley April 19, 2021 As flowers are blooming, seasonal allergies are flourishing, and warmer weather is in the air...so is spring cleaning. Today, members of Volunteer Wheeling can be seen cleaning the streets and organizing the co...
All Aboard!: The Streetcar Trolleys that Changed Wheeling Emma Wiley April 14, 2021 Seventy-one years ago, on April 14, 1948, the last streetcar of Wheeling made its final trip—its last day overshadowed by historic flooding on the Ohio River.1 Even though Wheeling’s streetcars may have ended q...
Remembering Reno: Wheeling Son Who Became a Military Leader Nathan Kosmicki April 9, 2021 Jesse L. Reno is most often remembered for his death at the battle of South Mountain. His death in service of the U.S. Army earned his namesake for Reno, Nevada, and several other western cities. But did you kn...
These Vintage Easter Ads Provide a Glimpse Into Wheeling’s Past Emma Wiley April 3, 2021 Easter dresses...Easter bonnets...For those who celebrate Easter, you know that your attire is important. Spring is in the air, a time of rebirth, out with the old, in with the new. Last year, when all of us we...
Wheeling’s Historic Female Doctors Emma Wiley April 1, 2021 “Doctress”...“Lady Doctor”...“Girl Doctor”...These are just a few of the peculiar titles that have been given to some of the historic Wheeling women who worked as physicians. Today, most of us don’t think twice...
Help Us Solve History’s Mysteries!: Women’s History Month Edition Emma Wiley March 26, 2021 A Partnership Between Weelunk, Archiving Wheeling, and the Ohio County Public Library Archives. Do you recognize any of these people? These are all historic photos of Wheeling people, places, and things that...
The Many Madonnas (of the Trail) Emma Wiley March 23, 2021 A Pioneer Woman The “Madonna of the Trail” statue on the edge of Wheeling Park along Route 40 is hard to miss. It has become an icon in Wheeling and has been featured prominently on everything from welcome sig...
COMIC: Rebecca Harding Davis – A True Pioneer Natalie Kovacs March 22, 2021 In honor of Women’s History Month, Weelunk is celebrating the contributions of author and journalist Rebecca Harding Davis. She is most known for writing Life in the Iron Mills, which was largely inspired by ex...
Adventures in the Archives: The YWCA Blue Triangle Collection Emma Wiley March 19, 2021 Wheeling and the greater Ohio County area has centuries of history...and therefore thousands of historical documents and other ephemera. So where does it all go? Short answer: the library. In addition to its...
Boiled Tongue and Pine Apple Cheese?: A 1852 McLure House Dinner Menu Emma Wiley March 8, 2021 Food is an integral part of human life. Not only is it what fuels and energizes our day, but food gathers people to share and connect in community. Everyone has a favorite dish and many of us still have fond me...
Mary B. Greene: The Ohio River’s Leading Lady (Part 2) Taylor Abbott March 4, 2021 By 1946, Mary was in her late 70s but still very much an active presence on the Gordon C. Greene. Only two years prior, her son Captain Chris Greene, who had taken the reigns of the Greene Line following the de...
Mary B. Greene: The Ohio River’s Leading Lady (Part 1) Taylor Abbott March 3, 2021 “When you marry a riverman, you marry the river too. That’s the code of steamboatin’.” -Mary B. Greene Owning steamboats and being a river captain in the late 1800s was not the most glamorous of lifestyle...
Lunch With Books Program Sheds New Light on Historic African American Leaders of Jim Crow Wheeling Seán Duffy and Erin Rothenbuehler February 27, 2021 As Black History Month 2021 draws to a close, we celebrate the fact that our history never ends – it marches on – and it is our duty to record it as accurately as we can. So when that record is incomplete, that...
Help Us Solve History’s Mysteries! Emma Wiley February 26, 2021 A Partnership Between Weelunk, Archiving Wheeling, and the Ohio County Public Library Archives Do you recognize any of these people? These are all historic photos of Wheeling people, places, and things that ...
The Blue Triangle Branch of the YWCA Emma Wiley February 25, 2021 The local Wheeling branch of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) is well-known around the city for its services and impact on people’s lives. However, for over three decades between 1921 and 1956, Wh...
Wheeling’s Jazz Giant: Leon “Chu” Berry Reggie Watkins February 19, 2021 Wheeling has a reputation for being a country music hub. So much so that along the way the city earned the nickname “Little Nashville.” I grew up two doors down from Wheeling’s country music legends Doc and Chi...
The First Wheeling Wedding? Emma Wiley February 13, 2021 “I do hereby Certify that I have this day solemnized the Right of marriage between Mr. John McIngtur (McIntyre properly) and Miss Sarah Zane agreeable to an act of assembly in such case made and provided. Witne...
A Tennis Giant: Arthur Ashe at Oglebay Emma Wiley February 8, 2021 In July 1960, Wheeling had a 16-year-old visitor to the tennis courts of Oglebay. Few knew that this young African American boy would become one of the greatest American tennis players of all time. His name was...
Cumberland W. Posey: The Millionaire Industrialist You Probably Haven’t Heard Of Taylor Abbott February 2, 2021 Wheeling’s long association with the steel and coal industries is one of the defining parts of its storied history. The reasons for their early success can easily be attributed to its exceptional location along...
Uncovered in Photographs: The Children Who Worked Wheeling’s Factories Emma Wiley January 26, 2021 While Wheeling has a rich and proud history of organized labor, the issue and history of child labor is often overlooked. There are few records or histories examining or documenting child labor in Wheeling; the...
New Deal Projects at Oglebay Park Anna Cipoletti January 20, 2021 As a staple institution in the Wheeling community, Oglebay Park serves as a place for entertainment, recreation, history, and celebration. While many people are familiar with the history of Earl W. Oglebay and ...
The Giant Wheeling Tabernacle Built in Only Four Days Emma Wiley January 11, 2021 In only four days between January and February of 1912—over a century ago—hundreds of Wheeling residents came together to build an enormous low-roofed building on the eastern side of 26th Street in Center Wheel...
The Era of the Ironmen, Wheeling’s Semi-Pro Football Team Rich Wooding December 29, 2020 It was a chance encounter. A Columbus, OH attorney who had just launched a mid-west semi-professional football league came to Wheeling, WV for a federal court matter and saw Wheeling Island Stadium. The s...
10 Fast Facts About Wheeling’s Doughboy Provided December 26, 2020 Wheeling’s Doughboy monument is back and better than ever. After a longer than expected stay at Venus Bronze Works in Detroit due to COVID-19, the 89-year-old monument has been returned to its home at Wheeling ...
Ringing in a Vaccine Emma Wiley December 22, 2020 Imagine all of the church and school bells ringing and all of the factories and trains whistling in Wheeling all at the same time. Incredibly loud right? That cacophony of noise lasted two long minutes at no...
Seafood Traditions: Coleman’s Fish Market and the Feast of the Seven Fishes Emma Wiley December 17, 2020 This time of the year is usually one of celebration, good will, spending time with family and friends, and shopping. But, few places get as busy as Coleman’s Fish Market in Centre Market, Wheeling. At first ...
The History and Tradition of Holiday Cards Miranda Tharp December 15, 2020 Many families have a tradition of sending out holiday cards every year. Whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanza, we all love receiving holiday mail. But have you ever considered when or who sen...
A River Runs Through It: Making a Houseboat into a Home Taylor Abbott December 1, 2020 “Cozy, isn’t it?” “Cozy?!... A good fart would give you a concussion!” That hilarious exchange came from none other than Walter Matthau’s and Jack Lemmon’s characters in the 1997 movie Out to Sea upon ent...
No Rest for the Dead: The History of Moving Bodies in Wheeling’s Cemeteries Emma Wiley November 30, 2020 Wandering around some of Wheeling’s graveyards, you might see some gravestones with dates older than the cemetery itself. How can that be? Answer: For many residents of Wheeling’s existing cemeteries, thi...
Cultural Appropriation in Wheeling: History of the Improved Order of Red Men Emma Wiley November 27, 2020 Editors Note: Weelunk, as a subsidiary of Wheeling Heritage, is committed to telling diverse, nuanced, and difficult histories, especially when those narratives occur in our own backyard. The line between cultu...
Reexamining Wheeling’s Mingo Statue Emma Wiley November 16, 2020 The Mingo statue has long been a recognizable landmark on Wheeling’s landscape. It has been featured on the cover of tourism brochures and included in the Smithsonian Art Inventory. Recently, it has even been u...
The Green Book: Navigating Wheeling During Segregation Emma Wiley November 6, 2020 “Write for Reservations—Moderate Rates.”1 This 1956 listing for lodging at the Wheeling Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) Blue Triangle Branch did not just reach a local audience; in fact, it was part ...
How a Wheeling Pastor Helped Catch a Serial Killer Will Wallace November 4, 2020 Reverend Herman Haas barely acknowledged what he saw that spring day in 1895. His parishioner, the newlywed Caroline Huff, had become severely ill and he was visiting her to lend some comfort. When he saw Carol...
The Forgotten Wheeling Suffragist: May Hornbrook Emma Wiley November 3, 2020 When Wheeling residents think of a local suffragist, their minds probably jump to Dr. Harriet B. Jones, the first woman licensed to practice medicine in West Virginia in addition to her extensive suffrage activ...
The People of Power, WV Emma Wiley November 2, 2020 Connections to place are powerful. The former residents of Power, West Virginia know this all too well. What do you do when your childhood village no longer exists? While abandoned or “ghost” towns are not u...
The History and Modern Application of Witchcraft and Crystals Jessica Broverman October 27, 2020 “Witchcraft is the practical application of magic.” We have all heard mystical tales of witches, warlocks and paganism. The spells that have been told, the ritual-based offerings and magical stones casting o...
10 Silly Suffrage Snippets from The Wheeling Intelligencer Emma Wiley September 29, 2020 On March 10th, 1920, West Virginia became the 34th state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that recognized every citizen’s right to vote, regardless of sex. Women’s suffrage would offi...
A River Runs Through It: The Thomas Family Taylor Abbott September 28, 2020 Author’s Note: It is an honor to be invited and share this story of my ancestral journey with our Weelunk readers to mark the milestone occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Wheeling Area Genealogical Society...
DOC AND CHICKIE WILLIAMS: Wheeling’s Pioneers on the Country Music Trail (Part 2) Kyle Knox August 25, 2020 Author’s note: Much of the information in this two-part article is sourced from Doc Williams’ own accounts of his life in his biography, “A Country Music Legend — Doc Williams — Looking Back.” (Published by Jam...
DOC AND CHICKIE WILLIAMS: Wheeling’s Pioneers on the Country Music Trail (Part 1) Kyle Knox August 24, 2020 Author’s note: Much of the information in this two-part article is sourced from Doc Williams’ own accounts of his life in his biography, “A Country Music Legend — Doc Williams — Looking Back.” (Published by Jam...
Next People’s University Celebrates Centennial of Women’s Right to Vote Seán Duffy August 17, 2020 The Ohio County Public Library’s free six-part People’s University course, “The Struggle for Women’s Rights,” kicks off on Thursday, Aug. 20. Adult programming coordinator, Seán Duffy, provides us with a preview of each upcoming class and details on how to attend.
HILLS AND HOLLOWS: Raising a Pint to West Virginia’s Moonshine Heritage Kyle Knox July 31, 2020 In the deep woods, along the cool creek (pronounced crick), the moon rises over the sugar maples, locusts, elms and sycamores of West Virginia and bounces off the copper twisting tubes of a still. That’s when a...
