For many years, nothing changed because some sort of hope remained, but when the empty Stone & Thomas building was deemed a gigantic fire hazard by the Wheeling Fire Department in the early 2000s, an “Uh Oh Moment” rippled under city and county leaders and the true transition of the downtown officially began.
Today, Williams Lea Tagg currently employs more than 500 employees in what is now known as the “Stone Center,” and there are 22 one- and two-floor loft apartments on the seventh and eighth floors thanks to the moves made by officials on all levels. In fact, according to Wheeling City Manager Bob Herron, the Stone Center was created with funding created by West Virginia’s very first Tax Incremental Funding (TIF) program. The ultra-successful financing tool is often utilized when government-assisted funding is needed for economic development, and the City of Wheeling has utilized TIF dollars on several occasions over the last 20 years.
The public has heard from elected officials over and over that the reinvention of a Rust Belt community takes time and patience, and that most definitely has proven true. But, in Wheeling nowadays, lots of folks work daily to make the small-town municipality the little version of a “pretty big deal” for many different reasons.
SPEAKING IN RHYMES: Live entertainment – for both adults and children – has proven successful at both Oglebay and Wheeling parks the past few years, and that includes the annual Festival of Lights where families can find Santa Claus and, yes, even the Grinch.
During the warm months of the year, local and regional performers entertain local residents and overnight guests in eight different areas of Oglebay Park, and at Wheeling Park’s amphitheater and ice rink.
RAISING THE BAR: It was the Silver Rail, and then it wasn’t. Most recently, it was Rae’s Bar before Steven Mitchell purchased it close to two years ago, renamed it the Silver Rail, and has transformed the 29th Street establishment in several very positive ways.
It’s the city’s top pool hall now, and Austin hires a lot of local performers (like Adrian Niles) and bands for weekend entertainment. The food is well above par, it’s very clean, and the service is terrific.
PIVOT: It was a catastrophe. One year ago, Jason Wilson watched as two of his family’s buildings in Bridgeport burned one evening, and when the smoke cleared, Wilson’s Furniture was closed and the future was unknown. Well, Jason then worked with his insurance companies, demolished the most southern of the structures, consolidated his recliner operations with a couple of others, reopened, and even conducted a very successful tent sale in the spring.
But then came his pièce de resistance. Just a week ago, Jason and his family joined local officials for the ribbon cutting for the new Ashely Home Store in the Power Center at The Highlands. Wilson had sold Ashley furniture before, but now the inventory includes everything for every room in a home. (Photo provided by the Ohio County Commission)
NATURE TAKES BACK: When complete next spring, the City of Wheeling will have demolished more than 100 former homes in several different neighborhoods. The majority of the razings have taken place on Wheeling Island and in East, Center, and South Wheeling, and city officials are hopeful that nearby neighbors may be interested in purchasing the lots in the future.
Unfortunately, there are more than one hundred additional demotions that could take place today, but residents will have to wait to see how the next mayor and council handle the issue.
FIVE MORE, PLEASE: That is exactly what the Carl brothers will tell anyone who compliments them on the new exterior and interior of the Bridge Tavern & Grill on the corner of 10th and Main streets in downtown Wheeling. Doug and Mike Carl purchased the building – the former Wheeling Hotel – and completely renovated each of the four floors into commercial and residential space. The interior of the Bridge Tavern was “gently” altered and reopened early this month and will continue featuring live entertainment like “The Roadhog Band” from Valley Grove.
Now, the Carl brothers hope to see much more of the same once the ongoing $30 million streetscape project is completed along Main and Market streets.
STILL CHEWING: It’s not the same business model put into place by Aaron and Samuel Bloch back in the late 1870s, but the former Mail Pouch tobacco operation continues to churn in South Wheeling. The number of employees has decreased, and most of the 20,000 Mail Pouch barns have fallen since painted, but Swisher International continues manufacturing tobacco products along Jacob Street.
COUNTRY ROADS: If a motorist travels Short Creek Road in Ohio County, they will see how coal mining winds its way to distribution in the Upper Ohio Valley. The Tunnel Ridge Mine, operated in Ohio County by Alliance Coal for nearly 20 years, produces an average of 60,000 raw tons per day with more than 400 miners and three portals.
The Tunnel Ridge Mine operates one long-wall machine beneath Interstate 70 in the area of Dallas Pike, causing delays along the freeway during most days. The company is permitted to mine under the interstate because the company’s mineral rights were in place well before the highway was constructed in the area during the 1950s. Ironically, the operation is not permitted beneath U.S. 40 in the Triadelphia and Valley Grove areas because the federal government knew at the time to protect the path of what was originally the National Pike, the very first federally-funded freeway in the nation.
REPLACEMENT: Gone – Army/Navy Store and the building that housed both Security National and Chase banks along Market Street right across the road from G.C. Murphy. New – a new, 300-space parking garage is under construction on the land, and the facility will have two or three retail spaces on the street level.
The garage was part of a deal with Coon Restoration & Sealant that’s connected to the rehabilitation of the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Building. Mayor Glenn Elliott announced before the pandemic the 12-story structure would be transformed into more than 100 loft apartments in a three-year project, but the full-on construction project has yet to begin.
THE TEASE: Fraternal and private clubs in the Wheeling area offered their members this past weekend their first taste of THE MEAL of the year. This plate was made at the Polish American Patriot Club, an organization where immigrants once were taught how to speak English and navigate the naturalization process, about politics and voting, and about employment in their New World.
RESURRECTION: In February, it will be three years – three years of innovation; three years of growth; three years proving all the critics wrong; and three years of becoming the answer to many, many prayers. Chief Operations Officer Bernie Albertini has guided the medical facility’s rebirth after Access Ohio founder Dr. John Johnson purchased the property from the Medical Property Trust in early 2020, and now East Ohio Regional Hospital has progressed to the point where doctors are ready to launch its full-service cardiac catheterization laboratory.
And that’s a really big deal.
Albertini has one goal to accomplish each day at work and it is simply to take another step toward making East Ohio Regional Hospital more than it’s ever been for residents in the Wheeling area.
