Last Stop - Wheeling in West Virginia

Ex-Ithacan · #1 Posted **Jun 16, 2013, 6:02 PM**

The last place I stopped to take pics after my Iowa tour was Wheeling , WV. I've been through Wheeling before (and did a brief tour some years back), but I felt I missed a lot. Even after this visit, I'm sure I'll be back for more. After the population peaked in the 1930s at over 60,000, it has kind of settled at about 28,000 now. The metro has about 153,000. The economic downturn may have bottomed out (hopefully), and the city can save some of the great old buildings which are gradually disappearing. Let's see the city:

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Wheeling, WV 13 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 23 by exithacan, on Flickr

3. A must see if you visit the city.

Wheeling, WV 09 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 08 by exithacan, on Flickr

5. The guy on the right side was carrying a baby across this rascal. That's the carrier he set down on the walkway.

Wheeling, WV 14 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 11 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 12 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 06 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 17 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 15 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 10 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 02 by exithacan, on Flickr

13. Yikes,they're not all gems.

Wheeling, WV 03 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 04 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 05 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 07 by exithacan, on Flickr

17. btw, the 1056 Lounge was open.

Wheeling, WV 01 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 16 by exithacan, on Flickr

19. wtf

Wheeling, WV 19 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 18 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 20 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 21 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 22 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 24 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 25 by exithacan, on Flickr

26. Which one of these buildings looks out of place?

Wheeling, WV 26 by exithacan, on Flickr

27. Damn red dot

Wheeling, WV 27 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 28 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 29 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 30 by exithacan, on Flickr

31. The historic McLure Hotel after a renovation. The old building can be seen at the right.

Wheeling, WV 31 by exithacan, on Flickr

32. I'm trying to figure out why the cardboard sign is there.

Wheeling, WV 32 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 34 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 33 by exithacan, on Flickr

35. Downtown's tallest.

Wheeling, WV 35 by exithacan, on Flickr

36. And of course it's for sale.

Wheeling, WV 36 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 37 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 38 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 41 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 42 by exithacan, on Flickr

41. US Post Office & Courthouse

Wheeling, WV 43 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 44 by exithacan, on Flickr

43. How about this beauty?

Wheeling, WV 45 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 51 by exithacan, on Flickr

45. And guess what, it's for sale!!!

Wheeling, WV 46 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 50 by exithacan, on Flickr

48. Home improvements, eh?

Wheeling, WV 53 by exithacan, on Flickr

49. Retractable awnings too!!!

Wheeling, WV 52 by exithacan, on Flickr

50. Oops, well maybe not so much.

Wheeling, WV 54 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 57 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 58 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 71 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 76 by exithacan, on Flickr

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Wheeling, WV 63 by exithacan, on Flickr

64. Old B&O Railroad Station.

Wheeling, WV 62 by exithacan, on Flickr

65. Bye-bye Wheeling, I shall return!!!

Hope you enjoyed.

photoLith · #2 Posted **Jun 16, 2013, 6:47 PM**

Wheeling is really screwed, such a shame.

STLgasm · #3 Posted **Jun 16, 2013, 6:52 PM**

Gotta love Wheeling!

kool maudit · #4 Posted **Jun 16, 2013, 7:06 PM**

a strange, wistful sighting of an older america's ghost.

glowrock · #5 Posted **Jun 16, 2013, 7:48 PM**

Damn it. If I would have known you were traveling through Wheeling, I would have met up with you!

Nice shots, no doubt about it. Too bad Wheeling is in such a terrible situation, though. I, unfortunately, see little to no real future for the city, though perhaps and hopefully I'll be proven wrong!

Aaron (Glowrock)

DetroitSky · #6 Posted **Jun 16, 2013, 10:49 PM**

It's almost like it was frozen in time. I need to get out to Wheeling at some point, it's always been high on my list.

ColDayMan · #7 Posted **Jun 17, 2013, 2:56 AM**

It's a beautiful little city. Still.

Ex-Ithacan · #8 Posted **Jun 17, 2013, 10:00 PM**

Thanks for the replies folks. Stop by there if you ever get a chance.

Aaron, it was a spur of the moment visit (and the weather was nice). Maybe next time.

MayDay · #9 Posted **Jun 18, 2013, 1:35 AM**

I hope Wheeling can get its groove back - incredible architecture, riverside setting, etc. If it can't, I can recall quite a few blocks I'd love to airlift if only to ensure their preservation.

Shasta · #10 Posted **Jun 18, 2013, 2:07 AM**

Jesus, there's so much to love about these photos and so much to be sad about.

That art deco-ish building is amazing. And, when was the last time you saw an actual adult video store? Is there no internet service in Wheeling?

kcexpress69 · #11 Posted **Jun 18, 2013, 3:49 AM**

So much unlikely potential in this great city!! Thanks for stopping there. Hopefully I'll get back in there in a year or two!!

xzmattzx · #12 Posted **Jun 18, 2013, 5:02 AM**

Nice pictures!

What cities did you make threads for on your big trip? I have not had a chance to see all of the threads yet, and I don't want to miss any.

boden · #13 Posted **Jun 19, 2013, 12:08 AM**

Such a charming little city. Excellent pics Tom.....your last tour of this city was on a cloudy, grey day as I recall!

Ex-Ithacan · #14 Posted **Jun 20, 2013, 10:35 AM**

Thanks guys.

@ Shasta - Internet has porn?

(

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@ Matt - I went to about 20 cities. Check out the threads list in the statistics section of my site profile.

Lakelander · #15 Posted **Jun 22, 2013, 11:01 PM**

Great looking set of bones. Hopefully, there will be some revitalization success before too many of those jewels are forever lost. Thanks for sharing.

Wheelingman04 · #16 Posted **Jun 23, 2013, 6:08 PM**

Thanks for taking pictures of my old hometown Ex-Ithican

Wheeling used to much more important and a large city that was originally the capital of West Virginia for nearly 7 years. Before that it was an important stop in Virginia because it was where the Customs House was. It was the true gateway to America and also on the edge of Native America. Essentially it was a border town. So Wheeling was much more important and a key city in America at one time before and during the industrial revolution and up to the 1960s. You can see that in the architecture and the size of the downtown area and the city's structural density compared to it's population today.

Wheeling has declined a lot but not as much as other cities because it wasn't as intensively industrial and had better circumstances than cities/ towns such as Youngstown, East Liverpool, Steubenville, Aliquippa, McKeesport, Clairton etc. It had multiple forms of industry. It being the largest port in the Upper Ohio Valley helped as well along with the construction of The National Road and later I-70 and I-470. That helped facilitate the transportation of goods and services, attract business along with creating more tourism.

Another thing that really keeps Wheeling from sinking into the dumps is that it has a low crime rate. That is vitally important. It also has a great school system, strong institutions, parks (Oglebay Resort included) and some good colleges and Universities in the city or nearby. The Heritage Port along the river is very nice and the city has a hockey team in the downtown arena. Concerts are held in the arena also and the Capitol Music Hall.There are also a lot of very nice neighborhoods but unfortunately there are also a lot of poor ones too. I haven't lived in Wheeling for some years but I would say at least half or more of the city looks pretty bad or is very poor. Obviously I am not going to type out everything about Wheeling but that is a start lol.

I think the city has not been served very well by its political leaders and they seem to never have a real vision as to how the city should progress in realistic terms. Nor do they value the city's historic structures. They also seem to live in a vacuum and never really look at what other cities do and try to figure out if it can be viable in Wheeling. Overall the city is still declining and they are tearing down a lot of buildings downtown and historic neighborhood structures nearby so it saddens me but I don't live there anymore and I love being so close to Pittsburgh and its suburbs that I can go anytime(when I am not having my health/driving issues) without batting an eye. Seeing all that perpetual decline gets old and depressing. Pittsburgh is doing amazing things and I would rather be a part of that but somehow I hope my hometown starts to stabilize and not continue to decline perpetually.

Evergrey · #17 Posted **Jun 24, 2013, 5:52 PM**

Wheelingman's old neighborhood is quite lush and beautiful... it never gets photographed because it's on the other side of the hill from Downtown.

Wheelingman04 · #18 Posted **Jun 26, 2013, 11:35 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Wheelingman's old neighborhood is quite lush and beautiful... it never gets photographed because it's on the other side of the hill from Downtown.

Yes my old neighborhood is in the Woodsdale section of Wheeling. It is very nice and a great place to grow up. It is very safe and the neighbors were always friendly. This section of Wheeling along with most neighborhoods along route 40 (National Road) east of downtown are very stable also My parents still live there and I go down there every week or two. The neighborhood is very established and has a lot of character and virtually every house is different from each other unlike the ugly sprawl in a lot of suburban areas where each house in the subdivision is the exact same (same design and floor plan.)

SpawnOfVulcan · #19 Posted **Jun 27, 2013, 12:16 AM**

The downtowns of West Virginia's cities always seem to exaggerate their population size; that probably has something to do with the fact that most of them are situation in pretty narrow river valleys. That being said, where they're situated tends to create some beautiful cityscapes.

Sadly, what creates the beautiful cityscapes also makes them relatively isolated and likely has contributed to their decline

montréaliste · #20 Posted **Jun 27, 2013, 12:30 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wheelingman04

Yes my old neighborhood is in the Woodsdale section of Wheeling. It is very nice and a great place to grow up. It is very safe and the neighbors were always friendly. This section of Wheeling along with most neighborhoods along route 40 (National Road) east of downtown are very stable also My parents still live there and I go down there every week or two. The neighborhood is very established and has a lot of character and virtually every house is different from each other unlike the ugly sprawl in a lot of suburban areas where each house in the subdivision is the exact same (same design and floor plan.)

I think it is easy to notice the wholesale abandonment of downtown Wheeling in its street retail sector. That is typical of many threads where you can imagine that not far from town are a number of shopping malls where business is brisk, parking lots are filled with cars. The same cookie cutter homedwellers need the repetitious architecture of a Walmart or Sam's Club to satisfy the urge for sameness.