Death on The Ohio, Wheeling, WV

[photoLith]

Wheeling, WV has been slowly dying since the 1940's when it had a population of 61,000, today the town is just 28,000 and shows no signs of turning around. Unfortunately, its home to some incredible history and very beautiful row homes. Some preservation and restorations have been done and the city is trying to capitalize on its rich history for tourism but much more will be lost in the coming decades. These are from yesterday, was there just for a few hours.






DSC_5499 by photolitherland, on Flickr


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DSC_5599 by photolitherland, on Flickr


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Then here are some photos that I took yesterday in Washington County, PA, which is south of Pittsburgh and sits right next to West Virginia. There are dozens upon dozens of covered bridges all over the county, and the National Road cuts through it, so theres plenty of history and amazing late 18th century to early 19th century taverns and towns everywhere.


DSC_5464 by photolitherland, on Flickr


DSC_5445 by photolitherland, on Flickr


DSC_5414 by photolitherland, on Flickr


DSC_5399 by photolitherland, on Flickr


DSC_5386 by photolitherland, on Flickr


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[McBane]

Gorgeous!

And who designed that gothic building next to the Victoria theater? Looks like a Hale.

[lio45]

WOW.

IMO "gorgeous" is actually an understatement...

This 'homogeneous heritage all around' character that I love so much is usually only present in cities that have been stagnating for decades (really logical and obvious in fact, when you think about it for a second...)

I hope Wheeling doesn't rebound, but stays afloat just enough so all that heritage gets preserved... 'cause if that town were to come back in a big way and boom, half the town's face would be different in a decade, and not for the better -- it would likely be bland and new...

[Tony]

Wow, this place is gorgeous! It's so sad to see so much in disrepair.

[photoLith]

Wheeling almost feels like Cairo, Illinois which is like wheeling but on a much smaller scale.
Here's my thread on Cairo I posted a few years ago.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=186776

[DoomJ]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Wheeling almost feels like Cairo, Illinois which is like wheeling but on a much smaller scale.
Here's my thread on Cairo I posted a few years ago.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=186776

Fantastic pictures of Wheeling. I must say, despite the hard times it does seem a lot more alive than Cairo. Last time I passed through southern Illinois the only living things I saw in Cairo were the plants growing through the buildings; at least some cars are parked in Wheeling... somebody's there...

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by DoomJ

Fantastic pictures of Wheeling. I must say, despite the hard times it does seem a lot more alive than Cairo. Last time I passed through southern Illinois the only living things I saw in Cairo were the plants growing through the buildings; at least some cars are parked in Wheeling... somebody's there...

It's obviously MUCH MUCH MUCH more alive than Cairo... and much more populated than Cairo (Wheeling is its own MSA of about 150k located adjacent to the Pittsburgh MSA). That was hyperbole on photoLith's part. Wheeling is still a functional place... is HQ of a decent-sized bank (WesBanco), has a world-class park (Oglebay), and several normal, pristine, attractive neighborhoods to the east of Downtown (which are never photographed on here as they're not that interesting from a streetscape perspective). It's a troubled city... been in decline since 1940, lost almost all its historic manufacturing, and has a populace that is seemingly indifferent to the city's legacy architecture... but it's not a ghost town like Cairo. A more apt comparison for Cairo in the region would be Brownsville, PA.

[Wheelingman04]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

It's obviously MUCH MUCH MUCH more alive than Cairo... and much more populated than Cairo (Wheeling is its own MSA of about 150k located adjacent to the Pittsburgh MSA). That was hyperbole on photoLith's part. Wheeling is still a functional place... is HQ of a decent-sized bank (WesBanco), has a world-class park (Oglebay), and several normal, pristine, attractive neighborhoods to the east of Downtown (which are never photographed on here as they're not that interesting from a streetscape perspective). It's a troubled city... been in decline since 1940, lost almost all its historic manufacturing, and has a populace that is seemingly indifferent to the city's legacy architecture... but it's not a ghost town like Cairo. A more apt comparison for Cairo in the region would be Brownsville, PA.

You nailed it

[Tony]

I remember that Cairo thread, I was fascinated by it. I wiki'd the crap outta it afterwards.

[hauntedheadnc]

This is the same situation my own city found itself in back in the 1970's and 80's. our downtown had a vacancy rate of 90%, and some of the buildings that are now restored had collapsed except for their facades.

What turned us around? Gays and artists, and the happy coincidence of being a rare spot of high-quality urbanity in this particular part of Appalachia. Wheeling has great bones, but it's just a face in the crowd -- West Virginia and Pennsylvania are teeming with lovely, well-built towns, and it's going to be hard for Wheeling to market itself and tell people why it's better than all these others like Huntingon, Parkersburg, Charleston, and all the smallish cities of Western Pennsylvania. However, if Wheeling could make an effort to reach out to artists and the LGBT community it might be off to a good start. Being an oasis for tolerance is another reason my city was able to turn itself around.

[MayDay]

One of my very good galpal's Dad lived on this block; we went to Wheeling for a weekend roadtrip - so much potential but whether that will be realized...

[photoLith]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

This is the same situation my own city found itself in back in the 1970's and 80's. our downtown had a vacancy rate of 90%, and some of the buildings that are now restored had collapsed except for their facades.

What turned us around? Gays and artists, and the happy coincidence of being a rare spot of high-quality urbanity in this particular part of Appalachia. Wheeling has great bones, but it's just a face in the crowd -- West Virginia and Pennsylvania are teeming with lovely, well-built towns, and it's going to be hard for Wheeling to market itself and tell people why it's better than all these others like Huntingon, Parkersburg, Charleston, and all the smallish cities of Western Pennsylvania. However, if Wheeling could make an effort to reach out to artists and the LGBT community it might be off to a good start. Being an oasis for tolerance is another reason my city was able to turn itself around.

Something tells me that Wheeling is not ready to be an oasis of tolerance anytime soon, massive brain drain has left the town pretty well set in its ways.

[Chicago Shawn]

Wheeling has been on my to-do list for a long time now. Looking forward to it even more after seeing these photos. I'll get there within a year, guaranteed. Thanks for sharing these.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Something tells me that Wheeling is not ready to be an oasis of tolerance anytime soon, massive brain drain has left the town pretty well set in its ways.

Even Wheelingman has left Wheeling.

[Wheelingman04]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Even Wheelingman has left Wheeling.

Yes I left Wheeling to be with my ex-fiance. We broke up and I moved from Wellsburg further north to 3 miles east of downtown Weirton in Hancock County, WV near the PA line where Hanover Township is located(the village of Paris,PA is on most maps). I am limited to exactly where I can live because of my medical conditions. I have tried to move into PA but I only wanted to live near the T tracks so I would have good public transportation but to no avail. I moved here because it was right at the time,I like this place, very low crime and the neighborhood but most of all I wanted to be real close to Pittsburgh. I think the key factor that keeps Wheeling alive rests with its very low crime rate. This place would be long gone and decrepit if it had a high crime problem. Again the mall to the west and the hybrid lifestyle center to the east has killed downtown. There are some that commute to Pittsburgh, especially doctors but even my mom has been commuting to Washington, PA for over 20yrs at the hospital and some of her friends did who lived in Wheeling also. I don't plan on ever living in Wheeling again though crazy things happy. I lived most of my life there. I personally could live in several major cities in my lifetime, but Pittsburgh is a special place and I would only miss it more and more if I left the area.

[pdxtex]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Something tells me that Wheeling is not ready to be an oasis of tolerance anytime soon, massive brain drain has left the town pretty well set in its ways.

so did you get a sense that maybe some of those folks commute to pittsburgh? some of those rowhouses look really well maintained and have trendy, small japanese cars parked out front. who lives inside?

[photoLith]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

so did you get a sense that maybe some of those folks commute to pittsburgh? some of those rowhouses look really well maintained and have trendy, small japanese cars parked out front. who lives inside?

Maybe people living out on the eastern edge of wheeling do but most of the people I saw in the old parts of wheeling were very broke looking white trash and low income people unfortunately. Even the people living in the nice looking homes looked pretty down and out.

[glowrock]

Gotta love photoLith with his wide-angle lens once more!

Aaron (Glowrock)

[Evergrey]

More Washington County, please!

[Buckeye Native 001]

Incredible building stock. I love Wheeling