When we first met 33 years ago in 1986 at the Ohio Valley Mall, Jessica Barclay was working at a kiosk in front of my store and she would visit my store frequently me and all of my workers. We all became fast friends and Jessica was just a teenager, but you could tell she had that dynamic personality of an entrepreneur.
At that time, she was talking of owning her own business, and she soon did, Barclay’s Birds.
I thought of Jessica many times over the years because I would go by her first business frequently and wondered what she was doing now that her store, Barclay’s Birds in Bridgeport, was no longer in business
You may ask how does this relate to Wheeling history? Well, Jessica’s love for Wheeling history and the revitalization of downtown Wheeling caused her to call me 33 years later. She was wondering if I had any photos of the location of the new business she was opening at 1052 Main Street called Thrive, an alternative wellness super spa.
Sure enough, I had several related pictures. Barclay’s business encompasses four of the buildings in this dynamic photograph of Main Street in Wheeling during the early 1930s.
The four buildings on the far left are the location of Thrive, and three of the buildings were destroyed in a fire and replaced with one building which housed West Virginia Business College until 2018.
This is that property today and Thrive owners Jessica and her partner Vanessa also have two other businesses called Play and Stay Pet Camp with one in Saint Clairsville and another in Elm Grove.
James Thornton has published several volumes of history on the city of Wheeling, and those interested in purchasing one of them can do so by contacting him at cre8m@comcast.net, or visit the Creative Impressions website.
