Category Archives: Archives of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston

Archives of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Archiving Wheeling

Blessed Martin ~ Patron Saint of Racial Harmony

Seán Duffy October 16, 2020March 13, 2023 9 Comments 8602 Views

Archiving Wheeling - Featured Image: Blessed Martin, Wheeling's Segregated Catholic School

A Brief History of Wheeling’s Blessed Martin School

Dedication

We are sharing this post again in honor of our beloved Sister Gabriella Wagner, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 102.

She was a lovely, kind soul who treasured her time at Blessed Martin and all of the schools at which she taught. Sister was a dedicated, generous teacher, and I was privileged to have been one of her thousands of students. I am honored to have had the opportunity to interview her for this post just after her 102nd birthday. A clip from that interview appears in the story below.

Rest easy in the light, Sister Gabriella. You shall be missed, even as your legacy lives on in all of us who benefited from your patient counsel.

Many of those with even a passing familiarity with Wheeling’s history will easily identify Lincoln School as the segregated public school in town from Reconstruction through “Jim Crow” to the landmark 1954 Supreme Court desegregation case, Brown vs. Board of Education.

But many of those same people have probably never heard of Wheeling’s segregated Catholic school, Blessed Martin. Read More

Archives of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Archiving Wheeling

Boss Tweed’s Mysterious Wheeling Visit

Seán Duffy September 6, 2016 2 Comments 6773 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

Archives of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Oglebay Institute Ohio County Public Library Archives

Old Grave Yard Square

Seán Duffy August 2, 2016August 4, 2016 12 Comments 13083 Views

Featured Image: Hempfield Yard Lot, Wheeling, W. Va.

A Brief History of the Hempfield Yard Lot

If we’ve learned anything from watching movies, surely we’ve learned that no good can come from unearthing duly interred bodies from sacred ground and moving them (or not) for the sake of development. You don’t build things over an old graveyard. You. Just. Do. Not.

But the fact is, the ground on which the Ohio County Public Library now stands was deeded to the town of Wheeling from Noah and Mary Zane in 1816 for use as “a burying ground.” And, as a burying ground, it was most certainly used.

Archives of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Ohio County Public Library Archives

Fifty-Five Feet and Rising

Seán Duffy March 19, 2016March 19, 2016 4 Comments 11062 Views

The 1936 Flood, 80 Years Later

The B.&O. station under water. Photo by J.J. Young. Ohio County Public Library Archives. — The B.&O. station under water. Photo by J.J. Young.

Heavy snow and rain in March 1936 triggered the worst flood in Wheeling’s history. The river crested at a record 55.2 feet, 80 years ago today on March 19th, and floodwater inundated the Island, much of South and Centre Wheeling and even the downtown streets as afar east as Chapline. The Suspension Bridge and Steel Bridge were closed, and the Market Auditorium was converted to a refuge shelter and makeshift hospital. Utilities were shut down, supplies cut off, and disease threatened. More than 20,000 people were driven from their homes and 16 people lost their lives.

Archives of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Ohio County Public Library Archives

Parading Past to Present

Seán Duffy December 25, 2015November 16, 2023 2 Comments 9090 Views

Featured Image: Wheeling Christmas Parade

Q: When Was Wheeling’s First Christmas Parade?

Relax kids! Giant balloon Santa being pulled by clowns is not at all creepy. 1940 Wheeling Christmas Parade. Eddie Martin Collection, Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.

We thought this question, posed on Archiving Wheeling’s Facebook page, would be a difficult one to answer. But, thanks to a series of historic parade photographs from the Eddie Martin Collection at the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Archives, the mystery is solved.

The parade Martin photographed took place on Friday, November 22, 1940, before an estimated crowd of 100,000 people lined up along Main and Market.

But, although it had to be among the quirkiest, the 1940 version was, by no means, Wheeling’s first parade.

Archives of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Ohio County Public Library Archives

Founding Physician and Civil War Surgeon

Archiving Wheeling June 9, 2015June 19, 2015 2 Comments 5872 Views

Featured Image: Dr. John Frissell Collection

The Dr. John Frissell Collection

Courtesy of the Archives of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, artifacts from the fascinating Dr. John Frissell Collection of Civil War era medical implements are now on display for the first time anywhere at the Ohio County Public Library. The collection was acquired from a local antiques dealer, who purchased the estate of a descendant of Dr. John Frissell, circa 2009.

The Frissell House on 14th Street (built in 1835), one of the oldest structures in Wheeling. (Landmarks of Old Wheeling by Milton) — The Frissell House, built in 1835, one of the oldest structures in Wheeling. (Landmarks of Old Wheeling by Milton)

For nearly a century, members of the Frissell family occupied a humble brick home on Monroe Street (now 14th), now one of the oldest extant structures in downtown Wheeling. Within the walls—both a residence and office—a small clinic was opened, and as late as the 1970s, medical instruments and supplies could still be found in the basement. ^[1] Instruments, such as those found in the 70s, are now part of the Diocese’s Frissell Collection. Read More

Archives of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Ohio County Public Library Archives

No Survivors: 100 Years Ago Today in Benwood

Seán Duffy April 28, 2015April 29, 2024 21 Comments 47156 Views

The Benwood Mine Disaster of April 28, 1924

One hundred years ago today, on the rainy morning of Monday, April 28, 1924, an explosion at the coal mine operated by the Wheeling Steel & Iron Corporation in Benwood took the lives of 119 men, most of them recent immigrants. There were no survivors. It remains the third worst mining disaster in the history of West Virginia, a state plagued by numerous coal mining accidents. Read More

Archives of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston Ohio County Public Library Archives

The Big One

Ohio County Public Library Archives March 12, 2015March 19, 2021 Leave a Comment 20428 Views

The Flood of March 1936

Heavy snow and rain in March 1936 triggered the worst flood in Wheeling’s history. The river crested at a record 55.2 feet on March 19th, and floodwater inundated the Island, much of South and Centre Wheeling and even the downtown streets as afar east as Chapline. The Suspension Bridge and Steel Bridge were closed, and the Market Auditorium was converted to a refuge shelter and makeshift hospital. Utilities were shut down, supplies cut off, and disease threatened. More than 20,000 people were driven from their homes and 16 people lost their lives. Read More

Archives of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston

Eddie Martin – The Collector

Jon-Erik Gilot December 18, 2014May 25, 2015 3 Comments 5619 Views

– article by Jon-Erik Gilot, Director of Archives at the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston

Since coming to the Diocese in 2012, I’ve been fascinated by the many hundreds of photographs comprising the Eddie Martin Collection. Recently highlighted in the Winter 2014 issue of Goldenseal magazine, Martin’s photos appear to at long last be reaching a wider audience.
Read More