Wheeling, Virginia Document (1833)

A list of items being shipped from Wheeling, VA (now WV) to Morristown, Ohio in 1833.

Wheeling Apps

Recently historical organizations with an interest in promoting and educating others about Civil War history in Wheeling unveiled a new smart phone app.  Available for iPhone, iPad, and Android; "Wheeling 150" list Civil War related sites in Wheeling, provides a description of each place, and even maps our their locations.  The app was created in partnership with the Civil War Sesquincenial Commission, Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation, Wheeling Civil War 150 Committee, West Virginia Independence Hall, and the Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Carriage, Buggies, Road and Track Wagons

"Donaldson, Lewis & Co., Carriage, Buggies, Road and Track Wagons - 1876 - Wheeling, WV."  An advertisement from a 1876 Centennial Wheeling, WV City Directory.

February 2, 1878 - Wheeling News

On February 2nd of 1878 Wheeling newspapers reported that "The tinkling of the sleigh bells have become quite familiar."  Other snow related stories include:

• Where is the Street Commissioner? - Standard.  Lost in the snow storm.
• The Main street clerks, not having anything better to do yesterday, engaged in a general snow ball war.  
• Main Street, between Sixteenth and Eleventh, was short of a race course for the boys with their cutways yesterday.  
• A sleigh containing four or five youngsters capsized at the corner of Market and Fifth streets Thursday evening.  
• BOMBARDING the some of the State officers with snow balls seemed to be a favorite pastime with those who loaf around the Capital.
• A force of workmen were engaged yesterday in cleaning the snow from the Elm Grove railway tracks on Eleventh and Chapline streets.  

Other news included:

• A large pile of lumber obstructs Eoff street between Nineteenth and Twentieth streets, and it is impossible to pass those points with a horse and wagon.  
• THURSDAY some mischief making individual took the stone out of the box on the end of the toll-gate pole at the top of Wheeling hill, thereby letting the pole down into the road, so that wagons were not able to pass for several hours.  

Source: Date: 1878-02-02; 

Paper: Wheeling Register

The Aetnaville Bridge

The Aetnaville Bridge was constructed in 1891 and linked the north end of Wheeling Island to Aetnaville, or what is now the north end of Bridgeport, OH.  Although the village of Aetnaville is no longer existent, the bridge served horses, automobiles, and pedestrians up until December of 1988 when it was deemed unsafe and closed to autos.    Since 1988 pedestrians and cyclist have been using the bridge.  At a recent Preservation Forum sponsored by the Friends of Wheeling and the National Heritage Area Corporation, the audience was asked to brainstorm about their top 5 endangered buildings/structures in Wheeling.
Here's the list:

1. Fort Henry Club
2. Aetnaville Bridge
3. 15^th Street, East Wheeling
4. Monument Place
5. Professional Building

The Wheeling Heritage Trails association has a plan to save and preserve the bridge.  As part of their extension plan for the trail they plan on using the bridge as a gateway to west.  Aside from cyclist, pedestrians from Wheeling Island, Bridgeport, OH, and Martins Ferry, OH use the bridge everyday.  Many of those pedestrians do not own cars, and the bridge provides a shorter route to and from work, school, or the grocery store.  Recently the bridge has been ruled unsafe by engineers, and in the near future may be sealed off completely.  If that happens engineers will have to examine if funds should be set aside to repair/preserve the bridge, or demolish it.
  

Portions of East Wheeling Face Demolition

On Monday January 23, 2012 a judge in Wheeling ruled that portions of 15th and 16th streets in Wheeling between Wood and McCulloch streets could be taken by way of eminent domain for a sports complex that will be for "public" use.  The block contains numerous buildings and homes - some inhabited, some abandoned.  Homeowners in this area are frustrated by what they say is a lack of communication about the proposed sports complex and its plan for "public use."

The Friends of Wheeling had the opportunity to tour some of the buildings in September and were able to get an up close look at this historic block.  One of the neglected structures is an apartment building that was once owned by the famed racketeer Bill Lias.  A few of the other buildings are home to industrious residents who have been preserving and restoring their homes, but have since halted due to the uncertainty of their neighborhoods status.  The ages of these buildings date anywhere from the 1850's (if not earlier) up until the late Victorian era.  Homeowners will appeal the recent decision to the State Supreme Court.

The Manchester Bridge - Wheeling, WV

Towards the south end of what is Rock Point Road, near what used to be the location of the Reymann Brewing Company, was a vital link to what was considered the back way to Wheeling.

Traveling south on Rock Point Road, you would have crossed the Manchester Bridge over Big Wheeling Creek on to 17th street in Wheeling.  According to an atlas from 1873 this section of Wheeling would have been called Manchester or New Manchester, possibly relating to a one time property owner.  

The 1873 atlas shows a bridge crossing Big Wheeling Creek in the general vicinity, and even a search on Google maps today shows a bridge, but all that remains is the stand stone abutment that once carried traffic across the bridge.  As the stand stone abutment, this area around the south end of Rock Point Road is virtually abandoned.  Some of the brick buildings that remain date back to the Reymann Brewery.  

• what remains
• standing on what's left on the bridge. 
• no entry

Click on the above photograph and scroll over the photograph to find a
"note" as the where the bridge used to be.