​Today in Wheeling History: June 1 — Lewis W. Riggs and Ashley M. Riggs of Wheeling file a patent for a hydroaeroplane (1916).
 
On June 1, 1916, brothers Lewis W. Riggs and Ashley M. Riggs, residents of Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia, filed U.S. Patent Application No. 101,081 for a hydroaeroplane — a revolutionary aircraft designed to operate on both water and land. The patent, numbered 1,281,661 and granted on October 15, 1918, described an ambitious flying craft capable of carrying heavy loads, ascending or descending vertically, hovering in midair, and reversing direction. Its swiveling propellers could rotate from horizontal to vertical positions, foreshadowing modern tilt-rotor and VTOL aircraft concepts by decades.
 
The hydroaeroplane patent was only one of three patents the brothers filed. Just a month earlier, on May 2, 1916, Lewis and Ashley had filed U.S. Patent No. 1,225,056 for a rotary internal combustion engine — the powerplant intended to drive their aircraft and other vehicles. Granted on May 8, 1917, the engine featured a rotating cylindrical piston delivering eight power impulses per revolution, eliminating conventional valves and camshafts while minimizing vibration. Ashley later refined the design independently, filing U.S. Patent No. 1,674,449 on November 24, 1925, granted June 19, 1928, listing his address as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
 
A 1915 Wheeling city directory listed Ashley at 3176 View Street, working as an auto repairman. Lewis served as president of the Riggs Rotary Motor Company, formed to manufacture their engine. According to the Wheeling Intelligencer of March 29, 1918, Wheeling was selected as the intended manufacturing site, with Ashley as vice president, trustees T. R. Young and Edward Ludewig, and an advisory board of O'Brien & O'Brien and T. R. Young.
 
To learn more: Google Patents (https://tinyurl.com/3tjf6de2) (https://tinyurl.com/3mu6xez6), Inquiry Into Operations of the United States Air Services, 1925 (https://tinyurl.com/mrya7cf7), Heritage Quest by Ancestry (https://tinyurl.com/2s397x7t), Aviation and Aeronautical Engineering, 1918 (https://tinyurl.com/3ntb56r3), Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/ycxpmmbp)
 
Photo credits: Wheeling Intelligencer, U.S. Patent Office

Today in Wheeling History: May 31—Robert Levenson, chairman of the board of Reichart Furniture Co. and one of Wheeling's most influential civic leaders, died at Wheeling Hospital (1990).
 
Robert Louis Levenson was born on June 20, 1915, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of David Joseph and Eva Mae Wilcoff Levenson. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, he served during World War II as a squadron navigator with the 716th Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Forces. Flying 50 missions over Europe, he was honorably discharged as a captain and received the Distinguished Flying Cross.
 
In 1936, Levenson came to Wheeling to join his father's business, Reichart Furniture Co., founded in 1920 at 1115 Main Street. He rose to become president and later chairman of the board. He also co-founded the Bank of Wheeling and the Wheeling Antenna Co. and was an original investor in the Wheeling Ironmen football team. On December 30, 1936, he married Helen Elinoff in Brooke County.
 
Levenson became a central figure in Wheeling's postwar renaissance. He helped found the Wheeling Area Conference on Community Development in 1953, chaired the city's Urban Renewal Authority, and founded and served as first president of Downtown Wheeling Associates. He was instrumental in building the Wharf Parking Garage, influencing the route of Interstate 470, and spearheading the air pollution control program that made Wheeling the first city in West Virginia to adopt air quality standards. He served as a Wheeling Hospital trustee for more than 27 years and was past president of Temple Shalom. In 1960, he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for West Virginia's 1st Congressional District.
 
Levenson died on May 31, 1990, at the age of 74. He is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Wheeling. His papers are preserved at the Ohio County Public Library Archives and Special Collections.
 
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV - Robert L. Levenson Papers (https://tinyurl.com/4ms5cu3c); Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV – Reichart Furniture History (https://tinyurl.com/4j824vmt); Find A Grave – Robert Louis Levenson (https://tinyurl.com/4k6abas7); Archiving Wheeling – Wheeling Renaissance [context for Levenson’s planning era] (https://tinyurl.com/5tz6cm8x); Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/59x9nh22) (https://tinyurl.com/yc3cuetd) (https://tinyurl.com/4fcvk9ce); Wheeling News-Register (https://tinyurl.com/3zdx2k2z) (https://tinyurl.com/4cdkzdd5) (https://tinyurl.com/mv3mhvf9) (https://tinyurl.com/2sbrwjfh)
 
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Find a Grave, Wheeling Intelligencer, Wheeling News-Register, Wikimedia Commonss

​Today in Wheeling History: May 30--The Soldiers and Sailors Monument was dedicated to honor Union veterans at Capitol Square with over 20,000 people in attendance (1883).
 
The Soldiers and Sailors Monument dedication on May 30, 1883, marked one of Wheeling's most spectacular public gatherings. More than fifteen thousand people packed the area around the West Virginia state capitol building at 16th and Chapline Streets, despite threatening storm clouds overhead. The monument, commissioned by the Soldiers' Aid Society of Wheeling using funds from a Civil War sanitary fair, was carved from Rhode Island granite and features a soldier and sailor flanking a central figure of Liberty holding a shield and sword.
 
The elaborate procession began at 2 o'clock and moved up Market Street, featuring the Holliday Post G.A.R., Spangler Post from Bellaire, veterans of the War of 1812 and Mexican War, German singing societies, fire department units, and the Wheeling Butchers' Association. Dr. Thomas H. Logan presented the monument on behalf of the Soldiers' Aid Society trustees, while Post Commander G.B. Jones accepted it for the Grand Army of the Republic veterans.
 
The ceremony included symbolic guards placed at each corner, scripture readings, patriotic songs by German choruses, and a specially commissioned poem by William Leighton, Jr., an English immigrant and glassworker. The monument features battle names including Rich Mountain, Antietam, Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Cloyd Mountain, Opequan, and Appomattox inscribed on its front, while the back bears the dedication "They counted not their lives dear unto them". After various relocations, the restored monument now stands beside West Virginia Independence Hall.
 
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/bdhkjwkt) (https://tinyurl.com/y4w5rwsy); Historical Marker Database (https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=39746), Archiving Wheeling (https://tinyurl.com/4jf4j47y), Wheeling Heritage (https://tinyurl.com/yffncbfa)
 
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; The Historic Marker Database

​Today in Wheeling History: May 30—John E. Wright, Wheeling steel industry leader and founder of the Wheeling Sanitary Manufacturing Company, was granted U.S. Patent No. 993,743 for his sand-blast apparatus, designed to smooth the surfaces of cast iron and enameled products such as bathtubs and sinks (1911).
 
John Ellsworth Wright was born in Wheeling on December 19, 1862, the son of John Wright and Eleanor Madden Wright. His father, John Wright, had come to Wheeling from Pittsburgh in 1849 and became one of the co-founders of the La Belle Iron Works in 1852. Young John E. Wright was educated in Wheeling's public schools and spent his entire life in the Wheeling area.
 
Following in his father's industrial footsteps, Wright became deeply involved in Wheeling's iron and steel sector. He eventually rose to serve as president of the La Belle Iron Works, then one of the city's most important manufacturers—and later a unit of the Wheeling Steel Corporation. La Belle had been founded by his father and others as Bailey, Woodward & Co. in 1852 and helped earn Wheeling its reputation as the "Nail City." Wright also organized the Wheeling Sanitary Manufacturing Company, which produced plumbers' earthenware, solid porcelain, and enameled iron products including bathtubs, and served as president and general manager for many years. In 1910, he was awarded U.S. Patent No. 993,743 for a sand-blast apparatus designed to smooth the surfaces of cast iron and enameled products such as bathtubs and sinks.
 
Wright had resided at 5 Highland Park—the Tinker-Wright House—for 29 years at the time of his death. He was a member of the First United Presbyterian Church and affiliated with B.P.O.E. (Elks) Lodge No. 28. His first wife was Bessie Baron, who died in 1913; he was later married to Emma Baron Wright. He died November 19, 1939, and was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Wheeling.
 
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/yudu2959); Google Patents (https://tinyurl.com/443b5ek8) (https://tinyurl.com/yxuvaeac), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/4525fae8), Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/5n682jvb), West Virginia Culture Center (https://tinyurl.com/3d76ru5j), West Virginia GenWeb - Ohio County (https://tinyurl.com/5n8zdb6e) (https://tinyurl.com/yc277due)
 
Photo credits: U.S. Patent Office, Find a Grave, Wikimedia Commons, Wheeling Intelligencer

​Today in Wheeling History: May 29—Charles N. Brady, pioneering glass manufacturer and future first president of Hazel‑Atlas Glass Company, is born in Wheeling, West Virginia (1849).
 
Charles Neave Brady was born May 29, 1849, in Wheeling to Hugh Sobieski Brady, a banker and civic leader, and Mary Elizabeth Scoville Caldwell Brady. Raised in a prominent local family, he attended Wheeling schools before entering the region’s expanding glass industry. He began his career with J. H. Hobbs, Brockunier & Company, gaining experience in bookkeeping, sales, and production. In 1879 he organized Riverside Glass Company at Wellsburg, notable for its pioneering use of natural gas. Brady’s most influential venture began in 1885 when he and partner C. H. Tallman founded the Hazel Glass Company in Wheeling to produce glass inserts for mason jar lids. The company soon expanded to Washington, Pennsylvania, diversifying into ointment jars and specialty containers. Brady later established Atlas Glass in 1896, and in 1902 he helped unite Hazel, Atlas, Republic, and Wheeling Metal into Hazel‑Atlas Glass Company, headquartered in Wheeling. As its first president, he guided the firm into national prominence and supported innovations such as the Blue Machine. Brady died July 6, 1938, and is buried in Washington Cemetery in Washington, Pennsylvania.
 
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/mr2fb49s); Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/mumtxbm6) (https://tinyurl.com/yh2eyc72), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/49ch3p5u), Ohio County WV GenWeb (https://tinyurl.com/yrcbve7c)
 
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WVWikimedia Commons, Find a Grave

​Today in Wheeling History: May 28--Edemar (Stifel Fine Arts Center), the Stifel family’s National Road mansion, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (1992).  
 
Edemar, now known as the Stifel Fine Arts Center, is one of Wheeling’s most imposing early twentieth‑century residences and a vivid expression of the city’s industrial wealth along the National Road. Built between 1910 and 1912–1914 for Edward W. Stifel Sr., president and chairman of J. L. Stifel & Sons, the mansion’s name combines the names of his children: Edward, Emily, and Mary. The 2½‑story Classical Revival house, designed by Wheeling architect‑engineer Charles W. Bates, is constructed of brick and concrete over a steel frame, reflecting Stifel’s insistence on fireproof construction. A monumental full‑width Corinthian portico dominates the façade, with terra‑cotta columns and trim masking the underlying steel structure. Inside, the roughly thirty‑nine room plan features a grand central staircase, marble-floored hall, parquet floors, and decorative stained glass referencing the Stifel family’s ancestral castle at Neuffen, Germany. The several‑acre estate once included formal gardens, a fish pond, tennis court, putting green, picnic area, and swimming pool, along with a brick carriage barn/garage. In 1976, after the death of Stifel’s widow, the family deeded Edemar to Oglebay Institute, which adapted the property for galleries, classrooms, and offices while preserving much of its original character. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992, Edemar today anchors Wheeling’s arts community as a public cultural landmark.  
 
To learn more: West Virginia Encyclopedia (https://tinyurl.com/mfmvm8hk), Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/2fchwbs2), SAH Archipedia (https://tinyurl.com/exw38d63), West Virginia Tourism (https://tinyurl.com/3dxpr6y8), Oglebay Institute (https://tinyurl.com/3v2tec8b)
 
Photo caption and credit: Edemar—now the Stifel Fine Arts Center—at 1330 National Road in Wheeling, West Virginia, photographed on April 2, 2010. The east‑facing Classical Revival mansion, built for the Stifel family and listed on the National Register of Historic Places (Ref. #91001728), remains one of the city’s most prominent early‑20th‑century residences. [Photograph by Bwsmith84, April 2, 2010. Courtesy of the photographer. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (CC BY 3.0)]

Today in Wheeling History: May 27—The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, honoring local Union Civil War dead, was re-dedicated outside West Virginia Independence Hall in Downtown Wheeling (2019).
 
The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument is Wheeling’s principal Civil War memorial, dedicated to local Union soldiers and sailors who died in the conflict. Commissioned from the New England Granite Company in 1878 and completed in 1880, the 55‑ton monument did not reach Wheeling until 1881 and was first erected on Capitol Square at 16th and Chapline Streets. It was formally dedicated there on May 31, 1883, in a ceremony that drew veterans from the Civil War and earlier wars, underscoring Wheeling’s central role in the creation of West Virginia and in preserving the Union. 
 
Over the twentieth century, the monument was repeatedly moved: from Capitol Square in 1956 to make way for the City‑County Building, then to a site near National Road, to the Linsly campus, and finally to Wheeling Park, where it stood on a hilltop for six decades, largely out of everyday public view. Beginning in 2016, Wheeling historian Margaret Brennan led a three‑year fundraising and advocacy effort that raised about \$135,000 to return the monument “back home” to downtown. On May 27, 2019—Memorial Day—the restored monument was re‑dedicated on the Market Street side of West Virginia Independence Hall, within a block of its original site. The ceremony featured Governor Jim Justice, state arts and culture curator Randall Reid‑Smith, Mayor Glenn Elliott, historian Dr. Joe Laker, Independence Hall staff, American Legion Post 1, and a new commemorative poem by West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman, reaffirming the monument’s role as a visible, instructive reminder of Wheeling’s Civil War sacrifice. 
 
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/2azsyprx); Mayor Glenn Elliott’s Remarks (https://tinyurl.com/2auw6prv), Marc Harshman’s Poem (https://tinyurl.com/2asxthpe), Additional Coverage (https://tinyurl.com/3255zn74), Archiving Wheeling (https://tinyurl.com/4jvvz69s)
 
Photo caption and credit: Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument (Wheeling Heritage)

​Today in Wheeling History: May 26—Delegates of Miners for Democracy begin convening at Wheeling College for the landmark convention that will nominate Arnold Miller as their reform candidate for United Mine Workers of America president (1972).
 
Over the weekend of May 26–28, 1972, hundreds of Miners for Democracy (MFD) delegates from across the coalfields descended on Wheeling College's fieldhouse for one of the most consequential labor conventions in American history. The MFD was a reform caucus born from tragedy—organized in April 1970 in the wake of the New Year's Eve 1969 murders of United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) reform challenger Joseph "Jock" Yablonski, his wife, and daughter, a crime later traced to corrupt UMWA President Tony Boyle. A federal judge had voided Boyle's 1969 election victory over Yablonski on grounds of widespread fraud, ordering a new election under U.S. Department of Labor supervision.
 
Representing 16 of the union's 23 districts, delegates adopted a sweeping 34-point reform platform addressing mine safety, rank-and-file democracy, and the health crisis of black lung disease. Two men competed for the presidential nomination: Pennsylvania's Mike Trbovich, the MFD's chairman and the frontrunner entering the convention, and West Virginia's Arnold Miller—a 49-year-old disabled miner, D-Day veteran, and co-founder of the Black Lung Association whose face bore permanent scars from wartime machine-gun fire. Miller prevailed, with Trbovich accepting the vice-presidential slot and Harry Patrick nominated for secretary-treasurer.
 
That December, the MFD slate defeated Boyle by more than 14,000 votes—making Miller the first candidate ever to unseat an incumbent UMWA president and the first native West Virginian to lead the union.
 
To learn more: Wikipedia - W.A. Boyle (https://tinyurl.com/5n9b52k2), Wikipedia - Miners for Democracy (https://tinyurl.com/5bxszwjm), e-WV - Miners for Democracy (https://tinyurl.com/4m3mcasd), e-WV - Arnold Miller (https://tinyurl.com/6j4vnpdd), Labor Notes (https://tinyurl.com/hux78cvd), UMWA - History (https://tinyurl.com/yc8ebpcm)
 
Photo caption and credit: Miners for Democracy Press Conference, New York City, October 25, 1970. Leaders and supporters of the Miners for Democracy gather at the Commodore Hotel in New York City on October 25, 1970, more than a year and a half before their landmark convention at Wheeling College would nominate Arnold Miller for UMWA president. Left to right: Mike Trbovich, Joseph "Chip" Yablonski, Steven Kovich, Bill Finley, James Rogers, Lou Antal, and Joe Daniels. (Photo by Bill Andrews. Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University. Public domain)

Today in Wheeling History: May 25—The "Wheeling Intelligencer" reported that the planned Hawley Building would be “one of the finest buildings in this vicinity,” designed for ten stories with seven to be built initially (1912).
 
The Hawley Building—today known as the Mull Center—stands as one of downtown Wheeling’s earliest and most durable high‑rise office structures. Located at 1025 Main Street, the building occupies a site long associated with the ruins of the Grant House hotel, destroyed by fire in 1877. Entrepreneur James L. Hawley began redeveloping the corner in the 1890s, constructing a commercial block on foundations intentionally over‑engineered to support a future skyscraper. 
 
In 1912, Hawley commissioned architect Charles W. Bates to design a modern office tower. The "Wheeling Intelligencer" reported on May 25, 1912, that the new building would be among the finest in the region. Seven stories were initially planned, but the structure was engineered for ten. In September 1913, a building permit for a $60,000 addition allowed completion of the full ten‑story height. 
 
By 1914, the Hawley Building had become a mixed‑use commercial center. The Princess Theatre opened on April 6, offering motion‑picture entertainment, and Elliott Commercial School began classes two days later. Through the 1920s and early 1930s, the building also housed WWVA radio studios, contributing to the early history of the Wheeling Jamboree. 
 
Renamed the Mull Center in 1977, the building remains in active use as of 2026, continuing its long role as a Main Street landmark and a testament to Wheeling’s early‑20th‑century commercial growth.
 
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library – Hawley Building/Mull Center (https://tinyurl.com/5c5j2b7j), Historic Wheeling – 1025 Main Street (https://tinyurl.com/yxwaupcp)
 
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Wikimedia Commons, Historic Wheeling

​Today in Wheeling History: May 24–Riverside Park Monument (Schmulbach Fountain), a granite drinking-fountain monument honoring Ohio River rivermen, is donated to the City of Wheeling by brewer Henry Schmulbach and dedicated in Riverside Park along Water Street (1900).  
 
The Riverside Park Monument—better known to many as the Schmulbach Fountain—embodies Wheeling’s deep connection to the Ohio River and the workers who made their living on its waters. Conceived in the late 1890s as a public drinking fountain by Charles E. Van Keuren, the project quickly grew when prominent brewer and businessman Henry Schmulbach offered to fund an impressive monument instead. Dedicated on May 24, 1900, in Riverside Park (the riverfront green that once stood where Heritage Port is today), the granite monument features a large anchor wrapped in heavy marine rope, flanked by projecting basins that originally dispensed drinking water. A bronze plaque on the rear shows an eagle clutching a wreath, underscoring its commemorative purpose. Contemporary accounts describe a festive dedication with a parade from the McLure Hotel, Mayer’s Brass Band, and speeches by Congressman B.B. Dovener, Mayor A.T. Sweeney, Charles J. Schuck, and Frank W. Nesbitt, who framed the fountain as both tribute and civic improvement. Over the twentieth century, the monument was relocated from Riverside Park to the 29th Street area, then to the Wheeling Island Marina in 1976 during interstate construction. Today, it stands once again along the downtown riverfront at Wheeling Heritage Port, a surviving landmark of Wheeling’s rivermen and riverfront civic pride.  
 
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library – Riverside Park Monument (https://tinyurl.com/2r5b8rus), Ohio County Public Library - Historic Landmarks of Wheeling (https://tinyurl.com/bjvbys25), Weelunk – “Why Were There Water Fountains On This Wheeling Monument?” (https://tinyurl.com/4tuxcrjy), YouTube – “Riverside Park (Schmulbach Fountain) Monument Wheeling, WV” (https://tinyurl.com/36cx5b3v)
 
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Weelunk, City of Wheeling