Wheeling West Virginia History & Facts

Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending into Marshall County. Wheeling is located about 60 miles (96 km) west of Pittsburgh and is the principal city of the Wheeling metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the metro area had a population of 145,205, and the city itself had a population of 27,062.

Wheeling was originally a settlement in the British colony of Virginia, and later the second-largest city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. During the American Civil War, Wheeling was the host of the Wheeling Conventions that led to the formation of West Virginia, and it was the first capital of the new state. Due to its location along major transportation routes, including the Ohio River, National Road, and the B&O Railroad, Wheeling became a manufacturing center in the late nineteenth century. After the closing of factories and substantial population loss following World War II, Wheeling's major industries now include healthcare, education, law and legal services, entertainment and tourism, and energy.

From the acceptance of the new state of West Virginia into the union on June 20, 1863, until the Restored Government of Virginia's move to Alexandria in August of the same year, Wheeling was the state capital of both West Virginia and Virginia.

The origins of the name "Wheeling" are disputed. One of the more credible explanations is that the word comes from the Lenni-Lenape phrase wih link or wee lunk, which meant "place of the head" or "place of the skull." This name supposedly referred to a white settler who was scalped and decapitated. His severed head was displayed at the confluence of Wheeling Creek and the Ohio River. Native Americans had inhabited the area for thousands of years. In the 17th century, the Iroquois from present-day New York state conquered the upper Ohio Valley, pushing out other tribes and maintaining the area as their hunting ground.

Originally explored by the French, Wheeling still has a lead plate remnant that the explorer Céloron de Blainville buried in 1749 at the mouth of Wheeling Creek to mark his claim. Later, Christopher Gist and George Washington surveyed the land, in 1751 and 1770, respectively.

During the fall of 1769, Ebenezer Zane explored the Wheeling area and established claim to the land via "tomahawk rights", the practice of girdling a few trees at a prominent site and marking the bark with the initials or name of the person making the claim. He returned the following spring with his wife Elizabeth and his younger brothers, Jonathan and Silas; they established the first permanent European settlement in the Wheeling area, naming it Zanesburg. Other families joined the settlement, including the Shepherds (see Monument Place), the Wetzels, and the McCollochs

In 1787, the United States gave Virginia this portion of lands west of the Appalachians, and some to Pennsylvania at its western edge, to settle their claims. By the Northwest Ordinance that year, it established the Northwest Territory to cover other lands north of the Ohio River and west to the Mississippi River. Settlers began to move into new areas along the Ohio.

Famous Peoples From Wheeling West Virginia

Jodi Applegate

Applegate was raised in an Irish American Catholic family in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, which is a suburb of Pittsburgh.In 1982, Applegate graduated from Moon Area High School. After studying at Temple University in Philadelphia for her freshman year, she transferred as a sophomore to New York University and graduated with a degree in television and film.

Before she was in journalism, Applegate briefly worked as an actress. In 1986, she appeared in a television version of the classic children's book A Pocket for Corduroy as the mother. In 1987, Applegate appeared in a television version of the Mercer Mayer children's book There's a Nightmare in My Closet, also as the main character's mother.

In the early 1990s, Applegate was a host of Close Up on C-SPAN, a weekly public affairs program that featured a high school student audience. She later worked as a radio and television traffic reporter for Metro Traffic in San Francisco.From 1993 to 1996, Applegate hosted Good Morning Arizona on KTVK in Phoenix. Applegate was also an anchor at KTVN in Reno, Nevada. Applegate met Rob Nikoleski in Reno; he was the sports news director at a competing Reno station, KOLO. They married and eight years later were divorced.

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