There are negative aspects when it comes to social media, but for millions of Americans platforms such as Facebook have allowed for reconnections with friends from as far back as grade school.
And thanks to Jamie Stahl Bowsher and Rob Hocking, more than 20,000 members of the Facebook group, “Memories of Wheeling,” are able to recollect their time in the Friendly City by sharing photographs and racking their brains about what once was in the city. Karen Atkinson Hart started the page, and Bowsher and Hocking have managed it during the last decade.
They’ve recalled the downtown when it was packed with commerce with places like Louis’ Hot Dog, the Hamburger Inn, Becker’s Hardware, the many theaters, L.S. Good, Stone & Thomas, Elby’s, Sears, and Boury Inc.
South Wheeling natives have remembered Mail Pouch, the Indians, the original Cave Club that was really in a cave, and Captain Ed’s while Elm Grove folks have provoked thoughts of Jaybo’s, the Bella Via, the drive-in, the Patterson ballfields, and hitting baseballs onto the roof of Norteman’s Meat Packing.
Burger Chef is a place often recalled by Woodsdale natives, and so are the Minute Market, the Eagle Inn, Buch & Donovan, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Kroger’s, Baskin Robbins, Willow Glenn, and the Path, and people who grew up in Warwood have mentioned the Warwood Twin, the Redbirds, Heck’s, Warwood High, the Little Bear, Pizza Inn, and McDonald’s.
Now, it is difficult at this time to look into the future of West Virginia’s first capital city because of the plethora of unknowns for this Rust Belt valley. Once one of the largest municipalities in the state, Wheeling’s population has declined to under 30,000, and there are more dilapidated residential and commercial properties than ever. Additionally the Wheeling Suspension Bridge is closed to vehicular traffic, and a three-year project on Interstate 70 has locals panicked and impatient.
A concentration on what’s good, however, is persistently present on Bowsher’s “Memories” page thanks to what Wheeling possesses that most other cities do not: a symphony, Oglebay Park, Wheeling Park, the Capitol Theatre, three excellent options for high school, the Ohio River, and Wesbanco Arena.
Those of us who continue to live in Wheeling sometimes take those assets for granted, but the “Memories of Wheeling” Facebook page frequently offers us a reminder that, although it’s not the town it once was, the Friendly City remains our home, and we’re willing to battle back. Let’s face it; we’re apt to gripe at each other, but we’re also there to fight for each other, too.
