Category Archives: Archiving Wheeling

From Fairways to Victory Gardens

Ohio County Public Library Archives January 25, 2017January 26, 2017 8 Comments 5957 Views

A Former Caddy Remembers Cedar Rocks Golf Course

[Note: Last September, we posted a story about Wheeling’s short-lived Cedar Rocks Golf Course. Now, in anticipation of spring, former caddy Bob Rine shares his memories of the final two years of the club’s existence, before the attack on Pearl Harbor drew the United States into another world war.]

by Bob Rine

Bob Rine speaks at Elm Grove Memories at Lunch With Books on Dec. 13, 2016. — Bob Rine speaks at the “Elm Grove Memories” program at Lunch With Books on Dec. 13, 2016.

In the fall of 1939, we moved from the farm to 227 Stone Church Road in Elm Grove, and I started my freshman year at Triadelphia High School. The following three summers I caddied at the Cedar Rocks Golf Club, which was two miles up Big Wheeling Creek Road, but actually, you were going south, into Marshall County. Read More

Private Collector

Close Cover Before Striking: Mid Century Wheeling in Matchbook Cover Art

Seán Duffy January 6, 2017 Leave a Comment 3922 Views

Loving the Light

Are you now, or have you ever been, a phillumenist — a practitioner of phillumeny or phillumenism?

And what is this phillumeny, you may well ask? Read More

Private Collector

Cups and Cups of Nostalgia

Ohio County Public Library December 1, 2016December 1, 2016 3 Comments 8080 Views

Hazel Atlas Milk Glass Cups

by Terry Woods

[Introductory note: After learning about the West Virginia Northern Community College Alumni Association’s Hazel Atlas Glass Collection currently on exhibit in the Board Room at the Ohio County Public Library in Wheeling, Terry Woods, from Texas, decided to loan his own amazing collection of more than 100 Hazel Atlas milk glass mugs to the library archives. These cups are painted with important themes for children of the fifties and sixties like Mr. Woods, including early TV westerns and space shows, as well as Christmas. After receiving the disappointing news that two-dozen of the fragile mugs were broken in transit, Mr. Woods worked tirelessly to replace them via online auctions. As a collector, he admitted to having a great deal of fun doing so. We thank Mr. Woods for sharing his collecting story.]

My first Hazel Atlas cup was a black Hopalong Cassidy I had as a kid. Our mom had to paint initials on two identical cups to determine which was mine and which was my sister’s.

The collection started when I found a blue Hoppy just after my wife and I got married in November of 1988. I then found a green Hoppy and a children’s circus themed mug. The quest was on! Read More

Archiving Wheeling Local History Author

From South Wheeling to the South China Sea

Seán Duffy November 11, 2016October 23, 2023 3 Comments 5401 Views

October 24, 1944. 5 o’clock p.m. South China Sea.

The nearly 7,000-ton Japanese freighter, Arisan Maru, is churning toward Formosa. Packed in the stifling heat of the ship’s holds are 1,782 mostly American and some Allied war prisoners of the Empire of Japan. The men are destined for forced labor camps.

Seeing only an unmarked enemy vessel, a U.S. Navy submarine, the USS Shark, fires three torpedoes. Direct hit. Split in two, the Arisan Maru slips beneath the waves in less than two hours. While most of the POWs escape the sinking ship, they are left to die on the open sea. The Japanese navy attempts no rescue. Only nine men survive. It is the largest loss of life at sea in American history.

Among the dead is 42 year-old Private First Class Frederick William Elkes, a 17-year veteran of the U.S. Army Air Force, 17th Pursuit Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group. Stationed in the Philippines, the South Wheeling boy who grew up on McColloch Street, was captured during the fall of Bataan. Read More

Archiving Wheeling

The Murder of a Football Hero

Margaret Brennan November 6, 2016May 9, 2020 3 Comments 7604 Views

The Sad Story of Robert Lee Ritz

Robert Lee Ritz, Wheeling High School football star.

In the Shreve High football stadium,
I think of Polacks nursing long beers in Tiltonsville,
And gray faces of Negroes in the blast furnace at Benwood,
And the ruptured night watchman of Wheeling Steel,
Dreaming of heroes.

All the proud fathers are ashamed to go home.
Their women cluck like starved pullets,
Dying for love.

Their sons grow suicidally beautiful
At the beginning of October,
And gallop terribly against each other’s bodies.

–Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio by James Wright

One of the most tragic stories in Wheeling sports history is the 1916 murder of Robert Lee Ritz of Wheeling.

Roberta Lee Mitchell holds the portrait of her cousin.

In an interview with a relative, 98-year-old Roberta Lee Mitchell of Colerain (who was named for her cousin Robert), a photograph of this outstanding and popular football player was donated to the Ohio County Public Library Archives.

[Ed. Note: Roberta Lee Stobbs Mitchell of Colerain passed away March 22, 2020 at age 103.]

Known as “Lee,” Robert Lee Ritz was the only child of Lee and Anna Ritz. His father died at an early age and his mother, a Stobbs, later married Theo Camp and lived at 1014 Vine Street in East Wheeling.

Lee was captain of the football team at Wheeling High School, and according to the Wheeling Intelligencer, he was one of the best athletes in West Virginia. Selected to the all-state high school football team, he planned to attend Cornell University. Read More

Local History Researcher Ohio County Public Library Archives

When Hollywood Came to Wheeling

Laura Carroll October 31, 2016November 1, 2016 1 Comment 8608 Views

Glory, W.Va., 1935.
It wasn’t exactly a parade.
It wasn’t a time for celebration.
It was a time to run for your life.

—Movie tagline, The Fools’ Parade

A Premier Premiere Collection

The night was finally here. After months of anticipation and preparation, the streets of Wheeling were packed with more than 12,000 fans awaiting glimpses of their favorite Hollywood stars. [1] Wheeling’s own Court Theatre was hosting the world premiere of The Fool’s Parade, and an elaborate parade had been staged to lead the stars and other dignitaries through downtown to the corner of 12th and Chapline Streets. Read More

Local History Researcher Ohio County Public Library Archives

Finding Cedar Rocks

Seán Duffy September 17, 2016September 20, 2016 12 Comments 10811 Views

The Golf Course “Out the Crick”

by George S. Jones II and Seán Duffy

“A golf course is the epitome of all that is purely transitory in the universe; a space not to dwell in, but to get over as quickly as possible.” -Jean Giraudoux

Some of the "rough" at Cedar Rocks these days seems rather daunting. — The “rough” at Cedar Rocks these days seems rather daunting.

One of the best things about doing local history research and exploring local archival collections is learning about the wonders of old Wheeling that are now lost to time. And some of the most interesting stories about “Lost Wheeling” are often the unlikely ones—the ones that stretch the imagination, like the amusement park on the Lower Sisters Island, the beer garden at Wheeling Park, the town’s old German singing societies, and the Mozart Incline.

Another one of those wonders was a short-lived, championship caliber golf course located “out the crick” on Big Wheeling Creek Road—a place called Cedar Rocks Country Club—where one of the greatest golfers of all time won a tournament 78 years ago today, on September 17, 1938.

And if you’re like me, you’ve probably driven right through this long gone golf course hundreds of times without even realizing it. Read More

Archives of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Archiving Wheeling

Boss Tweed’s Mysterious Wheeling Visit

Seán Duffy September 6, 2016 2 Comments 6955 Views

The “Boss” Comes to Wheeling

Boss Tweed circa 1869, Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-90688

The notorious William Magear “Boss” Tweed visited Wheeling 143 years ago today on September 6, 1873, but the reason for his visit was then, and remains today, a mystery.

Who’s the Boss?

Tweed was a Democratic politician and the “Boss” (circa 1858-1871) of New York City’s infamous Tammany Hall, one of the most overtly corrupt political machines in the nation’s history. Tweed used a system of cronyism to make sure members of his inner circle, the “Tweed Ring,” were appointed to positions of power in city government; he essentially controlled city elections by awarding jobs to mostly Irish immigrant constituents in return for votes, as well as through outright fraud; and he used inflated building contracts, bribery, and kickbacks to embezzle tens of millions (hundreds of millions in today’s money) of taxpayer dollars. Political cartoonist Thomas Nast launched a relentless crusade against Tweed, principally in the pages of Harper’s Weekly.

One of many caricatures of Tweed by Thomas Nast that appeared in Harper's Weekly. — One of many caricatures of Tweed by Thomas Nast that appeared in Harper’s Weekly.

According to legend, the power of Nast’s satirical depictions of Tweed caused the latter to despair, “I don’t care a straw for your newspaper articles, my constituents don’t know how to read, but they can’t help seeing them damned pictures.”

His corruption fully exposed, and his support badly eroded, Tweed was arrested in 1871. The jury at his first trial deadlocked in January 1873, but Tweed would be tried again in November of that same year, and this time, he was convicted.

It was during the period between trials, in September of 1873, that Tweed, for some still unknown reason, visited Wheeling. Read More

Archiving Wheeling

To the Defenders of the Union

Seán Duffy August 5, 2016August 25, 2016 2 Comments 5168 Views

Featured Image: Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument of Wheeling

The Case for Moving Wheeling’s Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Monument

“So may the future days
Come nobly to our State:
When, prosperous and great,
Her citizens shall praise
Those who gave life and all to consecrate
Their land to liberty;
And bade their watchword be
These words in granite here,
To freemen ever dear,
Montani Semper Liberi.”
-From Soldiers’ Monument Poem by William Leighton

In case you haven’t heard, a campaign has been launched to move the Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Monument from Wheeling Park to the empty lot beside West Virginia Independence Hall. Read More

Local History Author

The Wheeling Renaissance, Part 2

Allen Dieterich-Ward April 22, 2016 1 Comment 5377 Views

The Fort Henry Mall: “Bold and Exciting” or “Reckless Schemes”

Postcard of the new Wheeling Post Office at 2501 Chapline. OCPL Archives Postcard Collection. — The new Post Office at 2501 Chapline Street. – OCPL Archives Postcard Collection.

After the heroic efforts required to fund the Center Wheeling urban renewal project, local leaders struggled to actually find industrial tenants after the area was demolished in the early 1960s. The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) eventually settled for a new post office and a trucking company – not exactly the catalyst for economic growth proponents had envisioned.

Over the next few years, however, URA officials had more success with a project assisting the expansion of the nearby Ohio Valley Medical Center, which in subsequent decades would become a mainstay of the regional economy. At the same time, the city’s public-private partnership turned its attention to a more controversial subject: the construction of a proposed “Northern Gateway” and civic center in the central business district. The increasingly decrepit Market Auditorium had long been a target of the Wheeling Conference on Community Development, the group of local businessmen who looked to the Pittsburgh Renaissance for inspiration in remaking their own city. When the URA demolished the site in 1964 and secured federal funds for a new civic center, the next phase in the Wheeling Renaissance seemed set to begin.¹ Read More