Wheeling WV History

ECHOES … Of That First Day at the Mount — and Beyond

Anne Hazlett Foreman August 31, 2019

t is said that moments of trauma or great joy are etched in our minds forever and, like Post Traumatic...

Celebrating the Musical Women of Coal Country: Karen Collins, Elaine Purkey Remember Hazel Dickens

Seán Duffy August 26, 2019

he Ohio County Public Library and the WALS Foundation will celebrate Reuther-Pollack Labor Heritage Week through the music of two...

BILL HOGAN’S MUSINGS: Poppa’s One, Two, Three

Bill Hogan August 24, 2019

riving through Wheeling Park, I noticed a sign — “Bandstand” — and followed it to the top of the hill....

Wheeling Heritage Media Launches Podcast on Wheeling Brewer

Weelunk Staff August 21, 2019

urder (maybe). Philanthropy. Prostitution. Industrialization. Corruption. All these words are synonymous with Wheeling brewer Henry Schmulbach. And Wheeling Heritage is...

Exley Remembers (sort of) Three Days of Craziness on Max Yasgur’s Farm

Fred Connors August 13, 2019

heeling resident R. Banford Exley has sporadic memories of a raucous music festival he attended 50 years ago on a...

Experience Wheeling’s Rowdy Past at the Francis Pier-Pint Brew-Off: Prohibition Edition

Laura Jackson Roberts August 12, 2019

ccording to local historian Sean Duffy, history and beer go together naturally. Luckily for lovers of Wheeling and ale, it’s...

People’s University to Explore Wheeling’s Labor History

Provided August 2, 2019

Wheeling was a hotbed of unionism throughout its industrial period. In observation of the 250th anniversary of Wheeling’s founding, People’s...

Jewish Community Celebrates 170 Years of Worship

Christina Fisanick July 31, 2019

ollowing the second wave of Jewish migration to the United States during the 1840s-80s, the early Jewish community in West...

WISH YOU WERE HERE: The Robert Schramm Collection of Historic Postcards (Part 1)

Earl Nicodemus July 28, 2019

Writer’s note: This is the first of a short series of Weelunk pictorials from the collection of retired West Liberty...

THE GRIFFITH FILES: Growing Up on Big Wheeling Creek in Elm Grove

Gerry Griffith July 27, 2019

tay away from the creek.” … In the Elm Grove neighborhoods along Big Wheeling Creek in the early 1960s, no...

For the Love of Bicycling: Then and Now

Jeanne Finstein July 24, 2019

icyclists in the Ohio Valley enjoy myriad recreational opportunities, from scenic bike trails to winding country roads beyond the city....

AS I SEE IT: Mourning the Loss of My JITH Traditions

Ellen Brafford McCroskey July 21, 2019

Editor’s note: Here in the Ohio Valley, the third weekend in July has meant an annual pilgrimage to Jamboree In...

Those Were the Days: Veteran Broadcaster Shares Jamboree Memories

Ellen Brafford McCroskey July 20, 2019

Editor’s note: Here in the Ohio Valley, the third weekend in July has meant an annual pilgrimage to Jamboree In...

A VIEW FROM THE MOON: First Footprints on the Moon — 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11

Robert E. Strong July 20, 2019

or untold generations, human beings had looked at the moon and wondered … What was it? Was it a God?...

Unexpected to Unbelievable: A Jamboree Love Story

Ellen Brafford McCroskey July 19, 2019

Editor’s note: Here in the Ohio Valley, the third weekend in July has meant an annual pilgrimage to Jamboree In...

The ‘Hills’ Hold His Heart

Ellen Brafford McCroskey July 18, 2019

Editor’s note: Here in the Ohio Valley, the third weekend in July has meant an annual pilgrimage to Jamboree In...

Harshman’s Poem Celebrates ‘Wheeling at 250’

Marc Harshman July 9, 2019

Editor’s note:  “Wheeling at 250” was commissioned by the Wheeling 250 committee. The poem, written by Marc Harshman, West Virginia’s...

Cracks, Whizzes and Cheers: Eight Decades of American Legion Baseball

Nick Musgrave July 5, 2019

efore the advent of television, Wheeling families found entertainment among the sounds of cracks, whizzes and cheers of the local...

Weelunk Reader From Croatia Wins Haiku Contest

Phyllis Sigal July 3, 2019

ever in 250 years, has Goran Gatalica set foot in Wheeling, West Virginia. But this year’s haiku contest winner —...

THE GRIFFITH FILES: How Mom, Zane Gray, the Beverly Hillbillies and the Revolutionary War Inspired a Lifetime of Reading

Gerry Griffith June 29, 2019

was a child television junky in 1963, well-versed in the classics like Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Car 54: Where Are You?, Ben...

Mounds of Learning Opportunities at Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex

Kelly Strautmann June 28, 2019

ou pay homage to it every time you say the name of its hometown. It’s one of the largest Adena...

ECHOES … Of Guns and Rose — Tales of Summer Vacations Long Ago

Anne Hazlett Foreman June 22, 2019

here is no place hotter in August than Vicksburg, Mississippi. It was just one of many of our destinations during...

Celebrating Juneteenth Wheeling Style

Christina Fisanick June 18, 2019

any Americans probably believe that once President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 that all slaves were set free...

Events to Celebrate Statehood, Independence Hall and Suspension Bridge Milestones

Jessica Broverman June 17, 2019

once-in-a-lifetime celebration experience is on tap from Thursday, June 20, through Sunday, June 23, marking milestone anniversaries with family-friendly signature...

Looking to the Past and to the Future, Wheeling Heritage Celebrates 25 Years

Nora Edinger June 11, 2019

ost city residents probably don’t realize that every trip to the grocery store, every school bus run and all those...

‘Rithmetic Genius Born in Ohio County — Go Figure

Christina Fisanick May 29, 2019

ost people can remember their parents or grandparents talking about the three R’s of schooling: reading, writing and arithmetic. These...

With So Much to See and Do, Wheeling Punches Above Its Weight Class

Wheeling Heritage Staff May 27, 2019

o use a sports analogy, Wheeling punches above its weight class. For a city of only 27,000, Wheeling boasts a...

Placing of Roses on Civil War Veterans’ Graves, Tours and Ceremony at Greenwood Cemetery

Provided May 26, 2019

Friends of Wheeling will partner with the Ohio Valley Civil War Roundtable in placing white roses on the graves of...

The House in the Photo: A History of Echo Manor

Laura Jackson Roberts May 24, 2019

here are many images of Wheeling from its early days, but certain photos just stick with us. One, in particular,...

DOWNTOWN DO-OVER: Bringing Buildings Back From the Brink

Nora Edinger May 22, 2019

Editor’s note: The Downtown Do-Over series is taking a close look at the ongoing revival of Wheeling’s city center. In...

People’s University Uncovers the Obscure McLure 

Christina Fisanick May 19, 2019

Editor’s note: The Ohio County Public Library has launched its 26th People’s University, an eight-week series featuring weird, wild, wacky,...

BILL HOGAN’S MUSINGS: The Flicks

Bill Hogan May 18, 2019

 was fortunate to attend a noon talk at our library recently, about the old movie theaters in West Virginia. It...

Wheeling’s American Legion Post 1: Leading the Way in Service for 100 years

Nick Musgrave May 15, 2019

Editor’s note: Learn more about Wheeling Post No. 1 of the American Legion — officially the oldest post in the...

Political Peculiarities and the Blues at People’s University

Dr. Joseph Laker May 10, 2019

Editor’s note: The Ohio County Public Library has launched its 26th People’s University, an eight-week series featuring weird, wild, wacky,...

Suicide, a Suspicious Drowning and Good Times Are Brewing at People’s University

Ryan Stanton May 5, 2019

Editor’s note: The Ohio County Public Library has launched its 26th People’s University, an eight-week series featuring weird, wild, wacky,...

A VIEW FROM THE MOON: SMART-Center Turns 25 — 50 Years Ago (Part 1)

Robert E. Strong April 30, 2019

n elementary school, I labored under the common misconception that persists with most youngsters unabated to this day. I thought...

Harshman, Villamagna Bring Attention to Wheeling Landmarks in New Children’s Book

Phyllis Sigal April 29, 2019

nce there was a mouse … it was paddling for dear life outside of Robert Villamagna’s art studio, trying to...

Weird Stories of Wheeling in the Civil War

Jon-Erik Gilot April 28, 2019

Editor’s note: The Ohio County Public Library has launched its 26th People’s University, an eight-week series featuring weird, wild, wacky,...

It’s Time to Enter Weelunk’s Haiku Contest

Phyllis Sigal April 23, 2019

Editor’s note: April is National Poetry Month, inaugurated in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets. What better way to...

A Mad Dash for Suffrage, Odd Immigrant Stories, Obscure Strikes and Communists

Hal Gorby April 19, 2019

Editor’s note: The Ohio County Public Library has launched its 26th People’s University, an eight-week series featuring weird, wild, wacky,...

A History of Disaster: How Piedmont and the Muskingum Watershed Lakes Came to Be

Laura Jackson Roberts April 15, 2019

ach weekend in the summers of my childhood, my parents packed me and my brother up and took us to...

Don’t Miss ‘Victorian Era Mayhem & Murder’ at People’s University

David Javersak April 14, 2019

Editor’s note: The Ohio County Public Library has launched its 26th People’s University, an eight-week series featuring weird, wild, wacky,...

Weird Stories From Wheeling’s Wild Frontier and Native History

Alan Fitzpatrick April 6, 2019

Editor’s note: On Tuesday, April 9, the Ohio County Public Library will launch its 26th People’s University, an eight-week series...

Wheeling Country Day School: Celebrating 90 Years of Learning

Christina Fisanick March 22, 2019

“To empower students to think, to create, and to communicate in a nurturing environment where learning and character are paramount.”...

A VIEW FROM THE MOON: Practice Makes Perfect — 50th Anniversary of Apollo 9

Robert E. Strong March 18, 2019

As the rocket blurred into the clouds, I watched the joyful exuberance of the hundreds of kids around me all...

Skating Through History: An Ohio Valley Tradition That’s Alive and Well

Christina Fisanick March 5, 2019

You can ask just about anyone who grew up in Wheeling about how they spent their winter weekends from childhood...

The Presidential Allure of the Hotel McLure

Christina Fisanick February 18, 2019

When hotel clerk Howard Finley first saw Wheeling’s McLure not long after it re-opened in 1896 following renovations, he exclaimed,...

Wee Asked Jay Frey

Phyllis Sigal January 28, 2019

WEEasked some simple questions — and your neighbors, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, even some strangers, answered. Get to know them a...

First Day on the Job for Travis Henline

Provided January 14, 2019

Wheeling Heritage is exploring the creation of a Wheeling museum, and today, history specialist Travis Henline started his job as...

Wheeling Leaves Its Mark on Twain

Christina Fisanick January 11, 2019

On Jan. 10, 1872, one of America’s most celebrated storytellers took the stage at Wheeling’s Washington Hall. An Intelligencer reporter...