Category Archives: Wheeling Streets
WHEELING’S SCULL and SHELL BOAT RACING and WHEELING BOAT CLUBS 1865 – 1900 by John Bowman
In 1865, the Civil War had ended, soothing the entirety of America’s humanity. What was one to do now? Wheeling had the river, the magnificent Ohio River, and it would fit into the thoughts of “something to do now”. The colleges of Harvard and Yale in 1843 made use of the river, racing rowboats; making this […]
Read MoreThe WHEELING – LOUISVILLE ‘UNION LINE’ WHEELING’S 1853 STEAMBOAT PACKET LINE by John Bowman
The WHEELING – LOUISVILLE ‘UNION LINE’ Daily served the cities of Wheeling, Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis. Ohio River Steamboat Transportation Companies Headquartered in Wheeling, Virginia (West Virginia) The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer March 11, 1853 UNION LINE! Daily Steam Packet Service to the cities of Wheeling, Cincinnati, Louisville, and St. Louis. S.C. Baker & Co. […]
Read MoreWHEELING RETAIL GROCERS 1820 – 1920 by John Bowman
Today, Wheeling has Kroger and a Riesbeck’s Food Market, Sav-A-Lot, and a few convenient Convenience Stores where one buys groceries. Maybe today, that is enough stores to fill the need, but it wasn’t always so. A timely trend may be that you make your order from one of these stores and it will be delivered […]
Read MoreWHEELING ICE MAKING AND ICEBOXES by John Bowman
A listing for Ice in Wheeling finds ‘Louis Niebergall Ice Co., Inc.’ 4419 Eoff Street, Wheeling, WV. Over 100 years ago, in 1894, there was a listing: Louis Niebergall manufacturers “Pure Crystal Ice” at 4400 Water Street, Wheeling. The Ice plant has a capacity of 25 tons per day. We know we can find Ice […]
Read MoreWHEELING BUILT CARRIAGES, COACHES AND WAGONS 1820 – 1920 © by John Bowman
In 1820, Joshua Bodley and Thomas M. Galley collaborated and established the “Bodley & Galley” [1]wagon factory in Wheeling, Virginia. In the late 1820s, it became the “Joshua Bodley” wagon works, and in 1832, it became “Bodley & Richards” wagon works (Bodley, Joshua and Richards, David). In 1865, Mr. Frome joined Bodley as the “Frome […]
Read MoreBOOKS by WHEELING AUTHOR John Bowman
John Bowman Author, Historian, West Virginia History Hero and Steamboat Model Builder. John’s writings concentrate on Wheeling’s boat history. Wheeling began building boats, Barges, Bateaux, Flatboats, Keelboats, and Pirogues in 1774, the first Ohio River city to build boats, and the third settlement on the ‘Western Rivers’ to have a boat building industry. ‘Western Rivers’ […]
Read MoreSTEAMBOATS BUILT IN WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA 1815 – 1900 by John Bowman
Wheeling began building boats, Barges, Bateaux, Flatboats, Keelboats, and Pirogues in 1774, the first Ohio River city to build boats, and the third settlement on the ‘Western Rivers’ to have a boat building industry. ‘Western Rivers’ are rivers that flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Red Stone Old Fort now Brownsville, Pennsylvania was building boats […]
Read MoreTHE ZANE’S PATH TO WHEELING IN 1769 by John Bowman Celebrating in 2019 Wheeling’s 250th Anniversary
In the late summer of 1769, brothers Silas, Jonathan, and Ebenezer Zane left Red Stone Old Fort Pennsylvania, and traveled over a path, well known to frontier scouts, Indian traders and Indians alike, and made claim to land that would one day become Wheeling. The Zanes were not the first white men to lay claim […]
Read MoreROPE MAKING AND ROPEWALK IN WHEELING, WV by John Bowman 2018
One of the offshoots of boat building ‘Wheeling’s First Major Industry’ was the need for rope, and much rope was needed for the boat trade. Circa 1802 is the earliest mention of rope making in Wheeling. Michael Graham employed a few young men manufacturing rope at his ‘ropewalk’ (rope manufactory) listed as along Wheeling Creek. […]
Read MoreWHEELING, WV STREET NAMES; HISTORIC (1815) STREET NAMES & CURRENT (1873) STREET NAMES by John Bowman 2018
Listed are Wheeling’s First Streets and for whom or what they were named. This fit Wheeling greatly for nearly half a century and then the following happened. In July of 1873, the City of Wheeling renamed its streets at a great cost to Wheeling businesses. Some named streets became numbered streets, and numbered streets were […]
Read More