Wheeling's industrial development has attracted foreign-born groups, among which the Germans, Italians, Poles, Russians, Assyrians, and Greeks have their own churches and fraternal societies. In religious observances they preserve many of the customs of their native lands, such as the services held at St. Ladislaus Polish Roman Catholic Church on the Feast of Our Lady of the Flowers (August 15) and the blessing of foods at the same church on Holy Saturday, the day preceding Easter.

The first known white visitor to the mouth of Wheeling Creek was Captain Celeron de Bienville, who, with a party of French explorers, paused in August 1749 at the mouth of the creek they called Kanououara and buried a leaden plate bearing the royal seal of France and an inscription claiming, in the name of their king, the territory drained by the stream.

The earliest authentic record of the name Wheeling, which by many years antedates the settlement of this site, is in an old map of the interior of America, published in London in 1755, on which appear the names of Wheeling Island and Wheeling Creek in their locations. The most probable explanation of the name is that given by John Brittle, a Pennsylvania pioneer who was captured in 1791 by Delaware Indians near Wheeling and lived with the tribe for five years. He related that Chief Hainguypooshies (Big Cat) told him that the first white settlers venturing down the Ohio were captured and beheaded by a band of Delawares, and the heads placed on poles near the mouth of the stream as a warning to other invading whites. The spot was known thereafter to the Indians as Weeling (place of the skull), and the 'h' was added later when white men corrupted the pronunciation.

Settlement was first made on this site in 1769, when the three Zane brothers, Colonel Ebenezer, Jonathan, and Silas, emigrated from the South Branch Valley and followed an old Indian hunting trail to the mouth of Wheeling Creek. Impressed by the beauty and fertility of the valley, they made a clearing, built a cabin, and planted a crop. They divided Wheeling Island into three tracts and laid off large tracts on the mainland, covering most of the area where Wheeling now stands. Silas, the youngest, was left to guard the place while his brothers returned for their families. "It is like a vision of Paradise." Ebenezer told his friends, and several families accompanied him to the new settlement.

When the murder of Chief Logan's family in 1774 precipitated a general Indian uprising, Lord Dunmore ordered a strong fort built on the bluff north of the mouth of Wheeling Creek. Fort Fincastle, as it was first called, constructed by Captain William Crawford and soldiers from Fort Pitt, consisted of a log barracks, officers' house, storeroom, well, and cabins, enclosed by a strong stockade of heavy logs. In 1776 the outpost was renamed Fort Henry in honor of Patrick Henry, first governor of Virginia. Garrisoned by the Zanes and other pioneers, Fort Henry was an important military outpost during the American Revolution. In 1777, the bloody year of the three 7's, the fort withstood an onslaught by a band of Wyandot, Delaware, and Shawnee. Again, in September 1782, although peace between the British and Americans had been consummated, Fort Henry was attacked by nearly 300 British and Indians in what has been called the last battle of the Revolution. After a two-day siege the attackers withdrew, defeated.

In spite of the war and Indian menace the settlement continued to grow, and the return of peace accelerated its growth. In 1793 Ebenezer Zane platted the town, and a post office called Zanesburg was established here in 1794. In 1795 the town was established by an act of the legislature and two years later the seat of Ohio County was moved to Zanesburg from West Liberty. The village became an important commercial center for other western settlements and a point of embarkation for westward-bound settlers. Pioneer speculators and traders along the borders of Kentucky and Ohio made the village their headquarters. In 1806 the town was chartered under the name of Wheeling, and a year later the first newspaper, the Repository, was published.

The National Road, first wagon route between the east and the Ohio River, was opened to Wheeling in 1818, and the future of the town was assured, for it was a point through which the bulk of the travel and commerce between the East and West must pass. A year before, the Washington, one of the first successful steamboats on the Ohio, had been built in Wheeling, and now the boat-building industry boomed. Iron manufacturing began; glass factories were opened; dozens of taverns, blacksmith shops, and provision stores sprang up. Hundreds of wagonloads of merchandise, flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, droves of hogs, and bands of slaves were transferred at Wheeling from road to boat, and the streets were constantly thronged with eastward-bound statesmen or westward-bound pioneers. Packets, flatboats, and water-craft of all kinds arrived and departed daily, and the river landing became the busiest part of the town. In 1831 the flow of imports through Wheeling was so heavy that the town was made a port of entry by act of Congress.

In 1836 it was an incorporated city, and during the next ten years waterworks were built and the city was lighted by gas and connected by telegraph lines with all important points in the East. A free school system was established in 1849, and about this time Wheeling became known as the Nail City, because of its iron works, and expressed an ambition to become the leading manufacturing center of the west. Its rival was Pittsburgh and their bitterest fight was waged over the suspension bridge.

In 1836 a wooden bridge was built across the west channel of the river from Wheeling Island to the Ohio shore, leaving the east channel open to navigation. When a bill in Congress, supported by representatives of Virginia and Ohio, urged the erection of a bridge from Wheeling to Wheeling Island to facilitate trade and travel on the National Road, Pittsburgh contended successfully before the Supreme Court of the United States that the bridge interfered with navigation because its clearance was not great enough to permit high-stacked packets to pass under it. More probably, Pittsburgh feared that Wheeling would become the head of navigation on the Ohio River, making useless its extensive facilities for river transportation between the two cities. Of 230 boats on the river between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, the seven large boats of the Pittsburgh packet line carried half of the goods and three-fourths of the passengers along the route. The bridge was finished in 1849, in spite of a restraining order. Wheeling again carried its case to Congress, which established bridges as military and post roads and ordered that the height of the steamboat chimneys be governed by the clearance of bridges. When the bridge was blown down by a severe wind storm in 1854, Pittsburgh newspapers rejoiced and the packet Pennsylvania continued in derision to lower her chimneys when passing between the abutments of the bridge.

As soon as replacement of the destroyed bridge was started, Pittsburgh again appealed to the Supreme Court, but this time Wheeling won, and the new 1,010-foot span was completed in 1856. At that time it was the longest suspension bridge in the country. It still is in use, with huge cables supporting a wooden floor safe for six-ton vehicles.

Meanwhile railroads pushed westward to connect the rival cities with the East. Wheeling again won over Pittsburgh. The last spike completing the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad into Wheeling was driven 18 miles east of the city on Christmas Eve 1852, and two weeks later a colorful celebration and elaborate banquet was held in Washington Hall for nearly 1,000 guests, including men of national note. "Edibles disappeared as if swallowed by a maelstrom, after which champagne corks resounded through the halls like the prompt report of a miniature artillery." Speeches were made, and toasts were drunk; but even champagne could not drown the bitterness of Wheeling citizens for Pittsburgh, and a toast was proposed:

Poor Pittsburgh is flung—for her steamboats no more
Can whistle in scorn, as they pass Wheeling's shore,
No chimneys to lower, no action to bring,
For a flatboat, she'll find, will soon be the thing;
She may war on all bridges—save one for herself,
But her trade on the river is laid on the shelf.

The town continued to grow as an industrial city and as a center for western culture. Public and private schools were promoted, and in 1852 a public library was opened. Civic and social organizations were active. Jenny Lind, the Swedish singer, was brought to Wheeling for a concert; Mark Twain lectured; Presidents and statesmen were honored with elaborate banquets when they passed through the city.

This prosperous and happy period was interrupted by the War between the States, when western Virginia turned to the support of a movement for a new State west of the mountains. Two conventions of delegates from the western and northern counties of Virginia were held at Wheeling in 1861, and out of these grew, first, the Restored Government of Virginia and then the new State of West Virginia, both of which made Wheeling their first capitals. The city also was an important point on the Underground Railroad before the new State was established, and hundreds of slaves were brought here for crossing into the free State of Ohio. Wheeling has at present (1930) a Negro population of 2,192. No actual fighting occurred at Wheeling, although it was alarmed once when General Benjamin F. Kelley wired Governor Pierpont that "the rebels are coming through Cheat Mountain pass in considerable forces."

After the war, Wheeling resumed its industrial and commercial prominence, and at the close of the nineteenth century railroads had displaced river traffic. After 1900 the steel industry increased in importance, and the city also became a major center of manufacture of tobacco, glass, clay, and textile products.

Wheeling's greatest disaster was the flood of March 1936, when the swirling, muddy torrents of the Ohio River rose 19.5 feet above flood stage and remained at that height for 15 hours before ebbing slowly to leave the city fighting against disease, hunger, and enormous property loss. Wheeling Island was entirely covered; only the tops of the tallest buildings were above water. The waters of Wheeling Creek flowed through the four main streets of the city and for two days boats were the only means of travel. Communications were limited, electricity failed in flooded areas, and the city's water supply in sections was polluted. The final toll was 8 dead, more than 100 injured, and property damage amounting to $5,000,000.

As the city rebuilt, factories, some of which had been closed five or six years, opened with full forces, and within a few months the city was its normal busy self.

Points of Interest

1. The City-County Building, Chapline St. between 15th and 16th Sts., is a massive three-story red brick building of Romanesque design, trimmed with gray limestone. Above the central unit rises a square three-story bell and clock tower. The four corners of the north and south wings are surmounted by squat, domed towers. The building, designed by J. S. Fairfax, was erected in 1876 by citizens of Wheeling and donated to the State as a capitol, but it reverted to the city in 1885 when the capital was moved to Charleston. A granite Monument to Soldiers and Sailors of the Civil War stands on the southwest corner of the grounds. On opposite sides of the shaft are the figures of a soldier and a sailor; at the top is the draped figure of a woman holding a sword and shield. On the northeast corner is the Trades and Labor Monument, erected by employees of the Pollack Tobacco Company in honor of Augustus Pollack, one of the first tobacco manufacturers in Wheeling and a supporter of organized labor. The figures of a workman and an employer clasp hands in front of a slender fluted Corinthian column, atop which stands an eagle with outstretched wings.

The Paxton Fountain, in front of the main entrance, was given to the city by James W. Paxton in 1878. From the center of a large octagonal pool rise two elaborate groups of figures, one supporting and the other surmounting a basin. Beneath the basin rim are four pairs of half-draped female figures in contemplative attitude, chin on hand, and between each pair are the figures of two small boys astride a large red-mouthed fish. Above the basin are figures of cherubs playing about the feet of a standing woman. From the mouths of the fish and from pipes held by the cherubs and women gush tiny streams of water. The fountain and the curbing around the pool are painted silver.

2. The Customhouse (open 9-5 weekdays), 1526-8 Market St., is a four-story building of smooth-faced gray stone, owned by the Conservative Life Insurance Company. Constructed about 1854 to serve as a post office and customhouse, the building is of modified Classical Revival architecture, having many narrow deep-set windows and an arcaded portico with red granite Corinthian columns across the principal facade, which is approached by a well-worn flight of stone steps. A highly decorative cornice encircles the top of the building. During the War between the States the building rivaled the courthouse as a public center, and its steps were constantly crowded with men discussing war, politics, and the new-State movement. In the Federal courtrooms on the second floor the Constitutional Convention was held, which formed the first organic laws of West Virginia. In these same rooms citizens were later required to swear anew their allegiance to the Union. The building served as headquarters for Governor Pierpont until his offices were removed to Alexandria, Virginia, in 1863, and nearly all of the sessions of the legislature of the Restored Government of Virginia met here. Ammunition and arms were stored here for Federal troops during the entire war, and to the duties of the port surveyor were added those of custodian of the arsenal.

3. St. Joseph's Cathedral (open at all times), SE. corner 13th and Eoff Sts., is the seat of the Wheeling Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church. Of Lombard Romanesque architecture, the massive Indiana limestone structure was designed and executed by Frank Aretz of Pittsburgh. Interior decorations are by Felix B. Lieftuchter of Cincinnati. The austere round-arched style of the exterior is relieved by the richness of carved details, while the interior is elaborately ornamented with carved and painted representations of sacred scenes and symbols. The round-arched door is flanked by two octagonal turrets with peaked roofs topped by stone crosses. The roof is finished in rust-brown and red tile. Over the door is a rose window. The cathedral is built on the traditional cruciform plan, with a high dome over the arms of the cross. An open turret containing three bells rises at the back of the building. Within the entrance of the cathedral is a marble font with a lid of bronze and copper. Stone arches supported by monolithic columns separate the nave from the aisles, while the triple-arched openings of the triforium over the nave arches are carried on slender colonnettes with carved capitals and molded bases. The vault of the dome is frescoed with a representation of the nine choirs of angels, and the triple-arched stained-glass windows of the dome depict the four archangels, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriah Other stained-glass windows, designed by George Sotter, of Holicong, Pennsylvania, portray the life of Saint Joseph, the four cardinal virtues, and the life of Christ. The five altars of the church are of imported marbles from Italy, Greece, and France. Over the high altar is an elaborate ciborium, the vault of which is of cerulean blue glass mosaic inlaid with gold stars. Statues are of Caen stone, and furniture of richly carved oak. Altar fittings and vessels are of solid lacquered brass.

4. Washington Hall, NE. corner 12th and Market Sts., is a six-story office building of smooth yellow-gray stone, its first floor occupied by Western Union offices and a drugstore. When erected in 1853, the building was a sturdy three-story, brick and stone structure, with tall double windows ornamented with curved lintels. Above the main entrance rose a high Gothic spire. It was here that the First and Second Wheeling conventions were held (see History). In 1877 the building was extensively remodeled and since that time has been used as a theater, motion picture house, bank, and office building.

5. The Site of the Goodling Inn, NW. corner 12th and Main Sts., is occupied by the Hotel Windsor, a ten-story brick and stone structure. About 1810 Jacob Gooding built a small brick inn facing the river near the landing. About 1815 the inn was sold to Zachariah Sprigg, who erected on the site a rambling wooden structure, two stories high, with a long colonnaded porch across the front. A tunnel led from Main Street to the ground floor and beyond to the hotel grounds, where as many as 50 stagecoaches often stopped at one time. By 1825 the Sprigg House, which had come to be known as the St. James Hotel, was torn down and in its place was built the larger United States Hotel; the latter was razed in 1914 to make way for the present structure.

6. Wheeling Wharf, foot of 12th St., for a century and a half has been a public landing. Cobblestones, laid early in the nineteenth century, later supplemented by bricks, extend from the river's edge to Water Street. Although the wharf is not the center of activity that it once was, it is still used by occasional excursion steamers and small craft. It was here on May 24, 1825, that the steamboat Herald docked, and Lafayette, his son, George Washington Lafayette, and a party of statesmen were received by Wheeling citizens.

7. The Site of Fort Henry, Main St. between 11th and Ohio Sts., is marked by a bronze plaque imbedded in a small stone. Erected in 1774 the stockade withstood two sieges, in 1777 and 1782. An incident of the latter, the last battle of the Revolution, has grown into the Betty Zane legend. The garrison ran short of powder, and a number of young men volunteered to go for more from a supply stored in the strongly fortified home of Colonel Ebenezer Zane, about 150 yards away. Betty Zane, sister of the town's founders, however, insisted that she be allowed to go instead, remarking, "Tis better a maid than a man should die." The gates were unbarred, and she ran for the house. The Indians, amused at her frantic dash, withheld their fire, crying, "A squaw, a squaw!" But when she emerged from the storehouse carrying a load of powder in her apron, they realized her intention and fired at her. Shots pierced her skirts, but Betty, unhurt, reached the fort with the powder. The incident was not recorded in Colonel Zane's terse report of the battle. Elizabeth Zane McLaughlin Clarke died in 1823 and was buried near her home in Martins Ferry, Ohio, across the river.

8. The Upper Market House (open weekdays), Market St. between 10th and Ohio Sts., is a gray brick structure a block long, erected in 1911. Its chief architectural characteristics are high arched windows and finely denticulated cornices that encircle the building at the top of each story. The two-story north and south wings are joined by a central unit that rises several feet above the wings and overhangs the sidewalk on both sides. It houses the large Municipal Auditorium and a spacious balcony. A wide passage extends from Market to Main Street, providing the main entrance to the markets on the first floor. Here on each side of a long hall are neat arrays of fruit and vegetables, flowers, and dairy and poultry products. The second floor of the building is used for headquarters of various civic organizations, the chamber of commerce, and two smaller auditoriums. All activities of the markets are regulated by city ordinance.

9. The M. Marsh and Sons Plant (open on application), 919 Market St., founded in 1840, is the oldest stogie manufacturing company in Wheeling. The company operates in two box-shaped brick buildings, the main plant on Market Street and the other at 18th Street. The company employs 600 persons and produces between one and three million stogies a week. In the Market Street plant three brands are produced by machine. Tn the 18th Street plant the original Old Kentuck, now the Old Reliable brand, with which the company began business, is rolled by hand much as it was nearly a hundred years ago. Tobacco from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Tennessee is used in the manufacture of Marsh stogies.

Stogies, sometimes called tobies, originated with the National Road. Wagon and stage drivers demanded a cheap brand of rolled tobacco to smoke, and a Pennsylvania manufacturer began to roll long thin twists of tobacco, conveniently shaped to carry in a driver's boot (a favorite spot for carrying knives, pistols, and other small objects), which sold four for a cent. These became popular with the drivers and were at first called Conestoga cigars, for a type of wagon common on the Pike. Later the name was corrupted to stogie. Stogies are sold all over the United States, but have their heaviest sale in the Pittsburgh and northern West Virginia region where they originated. Wheeling has five stogie manufacturing companies, producing most of the stogies consumed in the country.

10. The Wheeling Public Library (open 9:30-9 weekdays; 2:30-5 Sun.), SE. corner Market and 21st Sts., the oldest library in the State, occupies a two-story, red brick building, the doorway of which is framed by marble Corinthian columns and a classic pediment. A decorative cornice encircles the building above the first story. The library has about 60,000 volumes, including a few rare historical books. Twelve paintings of scenes of early Wheeling by J. J. Owens, the city's best-known artist, are exhibited in the reading room. As early as 1809 Wheeling had a library maintained by public patronage, and when the Literary Association was chartered in 1859, public reading rooms were opened in a building near the present site of the post office. The present building was opened in 1910. The Bennett Memorial Museum (open 10-12 a.m., 1:30-5 p.m. weekdays) occupies the second floor of the building. The collection, of which the principal exhibits are costumes from foreign countries, old firearms, and old musical instruments, was donated by Mrs. Louis Bennett of Weston, West Virginia, as a memorial to the family.

11. The Lower Market (open Sat), center of Market St. at 22nd St., is a rambling wooden structure with a brick foundation, resembling an ordinary shed. It was erected in 1855 on land donated by a group of citizens. A projecting roof forms a canopy over outside stalls that are used by farmers to display their products. On Saturdays, when the country folk gather here, some to sell their wares, others to chat with friends about the weather, crops, or local politics, the place takes on an informal carnival spirit.

12. The Bloch Brothers Tobacco Plant (open 9-3 weekdays), Water St. between 39th and 41st Sts., manufactures Mail Pouch chewing tobacco. Nearly 1,000 persons are employed in the long, red brick factory buildings and modern, brick office building which occupy two blocks along the water front. The tobacco used in Mail Pouch, which is processed and cut into ribbons by machine, comes from Ohio, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Annual production is approximately 100,000,000 packages. The company, originator of the ribbon-cut type of tobacco, was formed in 1879 by S. S. and Aaron Bloch and was the first to buy leaf tobacco for the express purpose of manufacturing cut chewing tobacco.

Mail Pouch, especially during the development of oil and gas in West Virginia, was generally used by drillers and their helpers. It is said that when the Kansas and Oklahoma oil fields opened later, and experienced workmen went West, a package of Mail Pouch, indicating a West Virginian, was as good as a letter of introduction in getting a job.

13. Mount Wood Cemetary, Mount Wood Rd., is on the steep slopes of Wheeling Hill near the spot where Major Samuel McCulloch leaped over the precipice, and where tradition says Ebenezer Zane halted on his first westward trip to view the Ohio River and valley. From the cemetery there is an excellent view of the city, surrounding hills and valleys, and distant towns in Ohio. Many of the old-fashioned slabs covering the tops of graves are so weather-beaten that their inscriptions are illegible. Sepulchres that open into the steep hillsides are sealed with heavy stone or wooden doors fastened by rusty padlocks. Hundreds of flags indicate graves of war veterans, and massive monuments the graves of prominent citizens. A marble monument marks the grave of Dr. Simon P. Hullihen (1810-57), often called the 'Father of Oral Surgery.' Dr. Hullihen was the first doctor to confine his practice to surgery dealing with the mouth, nose, and throat. Much of the modern technique in dealing with hare-lip, cleft palate, and fractured jaw has developed from his discoveries. He invented several dental and surgical instruments and made improvements in others. From 1835 to 1857 he was a resident of Wheeling and was instrumental in having a hospital organized in the city, the first given a charter in what is now West Virginia.

14. Wetzel's Cave (open), 100 yards S. of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad tunnel on the Peninsula, was a hideout for Lewis Wetzel, probably the most noted Indian killer in the history of West Virginia. The entrance to the cave is through a low round hole in the ground; a passage leads downward to two large rooms where an Indian once hid to lure unwary pioneers to their deaths. When a hunter passed by on his way to or from the fort, the Indian gave a perfect imitation of a wild turkey's call. Hunters that stalked the bird were never seen again. Wetzel heard of the sudden disappearance of several men and investigated. Hearing the turkey call, he took a roundabout approach to the cave. The Indian emerged to call again; Wetzel fired and later added another notch to the barrel of his flintlock.

Wetzel was only 14 years old when a band of Indians came upon the family cabin south of Wheeling, scalped his German parents, and took young Wetzel and his brother prisoners. When they escaped shortly afterwards, Lewis swore vengeance against all Indians and spent his lifetime carrying it out. It is said that "he would suffer any hardship or danger for an Indian scalp." The Indians regarded him as their most dreaded foe, yet on many occasions they spared his life because of their admiration for him. They were awed by his ability to reload his rifle while running and often said that the white warrior's gun was always loaded.

15. Linsly Institute of Technology, Theda Place on the Peninsula, is a private degree-granting school of engineering for men, with emphasis on military training. The plain brick buildings of the school stand in the midst of wide grounds and drill fields. Near the main entrance stands the Aviator, a statue by Augustus Lukeman. It was erected in 1924 by Mrs. Louis A. Bennett in memory of her son, Louis A. Bennett, Jr., a lieutenant in the Fortieth Squadron British Royal Air Force, who was killed in action during the First World War. The school was founded in 1793 by Noah Linsly, a leading citizen and philanthropist of Wheeling. For more than a century it occupied the old Linsly Institute building at the corner of 15th and Eoff Streets, which was used as the first Capitol of West Virginia. In 1925 the institute was moved to the present site. Courses are given in structural, chemical, and electrical engineering.

16. Mount de Chantal Academy, entrance Washington and Adams Aves., situated high on Mount de Chantal Hill overlooking the valley of Wheeling Creek, is a Catholic boarding school for girls. The three-story, rambling structure is of modified Norman design. The central building is flanked by identical wings connected by two-story units. Above the main building rises the dome-shaped belfry, in which is the Angelus bell. Smaller belfries similar in shape rise above the connecting units. Established in 1848, the school is in charge of the Sisters of the Visitation, Blessed Virgin Mary. Preparatory courses and postgraduate work in English, history, and language are offered.

17. The J. D. Merriman Garden (open by telephone appointment), Stamm Lane, is a large formal garden, laid out in 12 beds, centered around a lily pool, and surrounded by a hedge of shrubs and flowering plants.

18. The Pines (open by telephone appointment), Stamm Lane, is the estate of A. C. Stifel. Attractive features are the sunken lily pool edged with iris and other annuals, the rose garden, an informal garden of perennial plants, and the hedge of pines for which the estate is named.

19. The Weiss Garden (open Sat.), at Elmcrest, Elmwood St., contains a large oval lily pond and, behind it, a rock garden in which are juniners, sedum, ivy, and showy annuals.

20. John Dieckmann and Sons Greenhouses (open 9-5 weekdays), Floral Ave. in Elm Grove, is the largest florist establishment in the state. Behind a two-story office and shipping building of concrete and brick, designed in Spanish style, are nearly five acres of greenhouses. Twenty acres of open beds surround the greenhouses, and a farm of 70 acres is maintained farther out the Pike.

21. The Old Stone Presbyterian Church Cemetery on Stone Church Rd., which leads off US 40. (L) one block W. of Forbes Ave., on the slope of a steep hillside overlooking Elm Grove, was the earliest burying ground in Wheeling, and many prominent names are on the weather-beaten markers. A tablet marks the Site of the Old Stone Presbyterian Church, built in 1807 under a large oak tree that is still standing. The congregation of this Presbyterian church, organized in 1787, held its first meetings under this same tree; later the oak sheltered the first crude, tent-like structure with raised platform, erected in 1790. The old church was torn down in 1913 and replaced the following year by a larger stone structure of Gothic architecture, built at the foot of the hill.

22. The Frank Hoffman Garden (open by telephone appointment), on Park Rd. near Woodsdale Park (inquire locally), is bordered by pink-flowering dogwood, elms, and Japanese cherry trees. Flower beds are informally arranged.

23. The John C. Tucker Garden (open by telephone appointment), on Hawthorne Court (inquire locally), is a rock garden with creeping plants, interspersed with Japanese honeysuckle and rambler roses.

24. Washington Farms (open), reached by a private road off the Greggsville, Clinton and Potomac Rd., is a large estate on a hill overlooking the valley of Wheeling Creek. A driveway circles the hill, following closely the course of a small stream. The ravine is landscaped, with small pools and rock gardens. Near the top of the hill is a large modern brick house, and near by a modest two-story frame house. The smaller house was erected by Lawrence Augustine Washington, son of Samuel Washington and nephew of George Washington, who came to Wheeling in 1817 from the Kanawha Valley, to buy a farm. On the slope of the hill across the drive from the old house are the graves of Lawrence Augustine Washington, his wife, Mary Dorcas, and his daughter, Emma Tell Washington.

25. Oglebay Park, S m. N. on State 88, occupies a 750-acre tract of high, rolling, and partly forested land. It is a municipal park with extensive recreational and educational facilities, including a large greenhouse, an arts and history museum, camp buildings, nature museum, auditorium, game rooms, tennis courts, golf course, hiking trails, bridle paths, 60 picnic sites, swimming pool, and flower gardens.

The main buildings of the park center around the Mansion House, now used as an arts and history museum (open 2-5 doily June 1 to Aug. 31, 2-5 Sun. May 7 to May 30). The large yellow-painted brick mansion, situated on the crest of a hill, was built in 1801 and remodeled by Earl W. Oglebay early in the twentieth century. A two-story, white-trimmed portico with fluted Ionic columns and heavy angular pediment fronts the main entrance. Flanking the central part of the building are white-columned open galleries topped with wooden balustrades. The residence, camp buildings, and office buildings are painted yellow and white in harmony with the mansion. North of these, and separated from them by part of the golf course, is a swimming pool, 67 by 175 feet, and a stone and stucco recreation building and locker room. East of the main building, on a winding motor road, are a restaurant and camp sites.

Through the Wheeling Park Commission and Oglebay Institute, which jointly administer and finance the park, a year-round program of education-recreational activities is conducted. These include clubs for enthusiasts in astronomy, botany, and ornithology; Sunday morning nature study hikes under the direction of Dr. A. B. Brooks, park naturalist; concerts, lectures, exhibitions, plays, Friday night dances and athletic tournaments. Symphonette concerts by local orchestras are presented Sunday afternoons; community sings with occasional guest choirs are held Saturday nights. Each summer, under the auspices of the Agricultural Extension Division of West Virginia University, a two-weeks' training course for nature leaders is given. Daily field classes are held in ornithology, botany, herpetology, geology, astronomy, and nature handicraft, with occasionally an added two weeks of field study in some other part of the State.

Prior to 1928 the park was Waddington Farms, the estate of Earl W. Oglebay, who bequeathed it to the people of Wheeling for so long as they "shall operate it for purposes of public recreation and education." Soon after the park was established, Oglebay Institute was organized to help administer the activities initiated by a volunteer committee and the Agricultural Extension Division of West Virginia University.

26. Northwest of Oglebay Park on the Consolidated School Grounds, Greggsville, Clinton and Potomac Rd., is the Site of Fort Van Meter, erected in 1774 and commanded by Major Samuel McCulloch, noted Indian fighter. Men from this fort reinforced Wheeling settlers when Indians attacked Fort Henry in 1777. After a lifetime devoted to scouting and development of the frontier, McCulloch was killed by a raiding party of Mingo and Wyandot, while on a hunting trip with his brother John, on July 30, 1782. Fearing him for his cunning and yet respecting him for his courage—especially afler his bold escape from them in 1777, when he rode his horse over a 300-foot precipice to avoid capture—the Indians had tried many times to take the major alive but had always been foiled by his daring and resourcefulness. After waiting in ambush a short distance from the fort, they killed him but allowed his brother to escape unharmed. When soldiers found his body the next day, he had been scalped and his heart cut out. According to tradition, the Indians divided the heart, each eating a small piece, and chanted, "We be bold like Major McCulloch." McCulloch's grave is a short distance from the fort site.

Points of Interest in the Environs

The Narrows, 7 m.; Grave Creek Mound at Moundsville, 12.9 m. (see Tour 22c). Wheeling Island, 0.4 m.; McCulloch's Leap, 0.7 m.; Wheeling Municipal Park and Madonna of the Trail Monument, 3.7 m.; Old Stone Mill, 3.4 m.; Monument Place, 5.7 m..

Key for Wheeling Map

1. The City-county Building, Chapline St. between 15th and 16th Sts.  2. The Customhouse, 1526-S Market St.  3. St. Joseph's cathedral, SE. corner 13th and Eoff Sts.  4. Washington Hall, NE. corner 12th and Market Sts.  5. The Site of the Goodling Inn, NW. corner 12th and Main Sts.  6. Wheeling Wharf, foot of 12th St.  7. The Site of Fort Henry, Main St. between 11th and Ohio Sts.  8. The Upper Market House, Market St. between 10th and Ohio Sts.  9. The M. Marsh and Sons Plant, 919 Market St.  10. The Wheeling Public Library, SE. corner Market and 21st Sts.  11. The Lower Market, center of Market St. at 22nd St.  12. The Blochs Brothers Tobacco Plant, Water St. between 39th and 41st Sts.  13. Mount Wood Cemetery, Mount Wood Rd., on the steep slopes of Wheeling Hull.  14. Wetzel's Cave, 100 yards S. of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad tunnel on the Peninsula.  15. Linsly Institute of Technology, Theda Pl. on the Peninsula.  16. Mount de Chantal Academy, Valley View Rd. and Mount de Chantal Rd., situated high on Mount de Chantal Hill overlooking the valley of Wheeling Creek. 17. The j. 0. weriuman carden, Stamm Lane. 18. The pikes, Stamm Lane.  19. The Weiss Garden, at Elmcrest, Elmwood St.  20. John Dieckmann and Sons Greenhouses, Floral Ave, in Elm Grove.  21. The Old Stone Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Stone Church Rd. which leads off US 40 (L) one block W. of Forbes Ave., on the slope of a steep hillside overlooking Elm Grove.  22. The Frank Hoffman Garden, on Park Rd. near Woodsdale Park.  23. The John C. Tucker Garden, on Hawthorne Court.  24. Washington Farms, reached by a private road off the Greggsville, Clinton and Potomac Rd.  25. Oglebay Park, 5 W. n. on State 88.  26. Site of Fort Van Meter, northwest of Oglebay Park on the Consolidated School Grounds, Greggsville, Clinton and Potomac Rd.

Railroad Stations: 1700 Market St. for Baltimore & Ohio R.R.; 11th and Water Sts. for Pennsylvania R.R. and Wheeling and Lake Erie Ry.
Bus Stations: Union Bus Terminal, 16th and Market Sts., for Atlantic Greyhound Lines, Pennsylvania Greyhound Lines, Red Star Way Lines, Blue Ridge Lines, Penn-Ohio Coach Lines, West Virginia Transportation Co., Co-operative Bus Co., Wheeling Public Service Co., Eastern Ohio Transport Co.; Consolidated Bus Depot, 11th and Chapline Sts., for Arcodel System; 1619 Market St. for Lincoln Trailways.
Airport: 3 m. NW. of city across Ohio River on Ohio 7; no scheduled service.
Taxis: 1-4 persons 25¢ in urban district.
Streetcars and Busses: Fare 5¢ and i10¢ within city limits, 5¢ to Island, 10¢ to Oglebay Park.
Traffic Regulations: One-way streets, N. on Market and S. on Main between 10th and 16th Sts.
Street Order and Numbering: E. and W. streets numbered from 1st to 48th, N. and S. streets named.
Accommodations: 7 hotels; tourist homes and boarding houses.
Information Service: Chamber of Commerce, Market Auditorium, Market St. between 10th and 11th Sts.; Wheeling Automobile Club 81 - 12th St.
Radio Station: WWVA (1160 kc.).
Theaters and Motion Picture Houses: Little Theater plays in St. Michael's church auditorium, 129 Edgington Lane, or Market Auditorium, Market St. between 10th and 11th Sts.; 12 motion picture houses.
Swimming: Oglebay Park, 5.4 m. N. on State 88, open May 30 to Sept. 15, 15¢; Wheeling Park, 4.7 m. E. on US 40, open June, July, Aug., 15¢
Golf: Oglebay Park, 5.4 m. N. on State 88, 18 holes, greens fee, 25¢; Wheeling Park, 4.7 m. E. on US 40, 9 holes, greens fee, 25¢
Tennis: Oglebay Park, 54 m. N. on State 88, and Wheeling Park, 4.7 m. E. on US 40, 40¢ per hour.
Riding: Oglebay Park, 5.4 m. N. on State 88, horses $1 per hour.
Skating: Ice skating, Wheeling Park, 4.7 m. E. on US 40, during winter; roller skating, State Fair Park, S. end Wheeling Island, adults, 35¢, children 10¢
Annual Events: Easter sunrise service, Oglebay Park; Dog Show, Apr., Market Auditorium; Ohio Valley Arbor Day, May, Oglebay Park; racing, spring and fall, Wheeling Downs; regional 4-H Club and Panhandle Autumn Festival, Oglebay Park.