Wheeling's 12th Street Garage – A Photo Series

Introduction by Steve Novotney

It was the biggest garage in Wheeling, and at a cost of $200,000, it was the most up-to-date, too. On the day it opened in January 1922, the 12^th Street Garage was described in the Wheeling Intelligencer as a “handsome five-story building” and that was “absolutely fireproof.”

Each of those five floors had 50 parking spaces, and the newspaper also reported, according to the archives compiled by the Ohio County Public Library, that, “An elaborate program for the customers has been arranged there being daily inspection service free, while several attendants will be about the place all the time to change tires and do similar work. No repair work will be done, however. On the first floor, there will be a branch of the Spears & Riddle company, where supplies will be kept.”

There has been some recent demolition to the structure, and, since O’Malley snapped nearly four years ago, interior vandalism has taken place, ownership has changed, and it has been for sale for more than a year.

A postcard of a garage. — **The 12th Street Garage was located across the street from the Virginia Theatre, which opened in 1922.**

Designed by architect Charles W. Bates and constructed by the R.R. Kitchen Company, the garage featured a unique elevator that was used only by the employees parking customer’s cars. The system included a circling cable mechanism with small, attached platforms to transport the workers from the first to fifth floors to ensure quick service.

The 12th Street Garage rests near the intersection of 12^th and Chapline streets and, until 1962, the Virginia Theatre hosted shows from January 1908 until May 1962. That is when the 12^th Street Garage Co. purchased the theatre and demolished it to make room for the parking lot that remains today.