You might think that it’s just another train bridge, but you would be incorrect.
The Elm Grove Train Trestle was an engineering phenomenon. When the bridge was constructed, train traffic to Wheeling and the rest of our country was so vital and important that they just could not disrupt it. So the engineers designed a bridge that required digging the road under the existing tracks so train traffic would not be disrupted.
You will see the extraordinary construction pictured in the photographs, along with several images through the history of the trestle. Even today if you drive through Elm Grove, you will experience the dip in the street.
It has been a passion of mine to showcase and preserve Wheeling’s rich history with this series of historic photographs that briefly highlight a business or building that is “Gone Forever” from the fabric of Wheeling life and the Ohio Valley.
I hope with this series, I will be able to show the large amount of industry and businesses that thrived here in the early 1930s and 1940s, attracting people from many countries and all walks of life, all of whom helped to make Wheeling the greatest city in West Virginia.
If you have suggestions on a favorite business or location that is gone please submit that to me at cre8m@comcast.net. I will do my best to search it out and tell that story.
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. The books can be purchased at the Wheeling Heritage Center, Kroger on Mount de Chantal Road, Miklas Meat Market, Nail City Records, the UPS Store in the Washington Avenue Plaza, VC Wares at Centre Market, Bower’s Decorating at The Highlands, and on the website www.wheelinghistory.net.
