​Today in Wheeling History: March 15--Reichart Furniture Company, founded by merchant David J. Levenson, opened on Main Street in downtown Wheeling, becoming a regional home-furnishings chain (1920).
 
Reichart Furniture Company emerged as a Main Street fixture in downtown Wheeling when David J. Levenson opened the store on March 15, 1920, at 1115 Main Street, replacing the New and Better Furniture Company. Although the corporate charter dates to 1917, Reichart’s public identity as a furniture house crystallized in 1920, when Levenson began building a family-run business that would endure for more than seven decades. From its Wheeling base, Reichart expanded steadily: Washington, Pennsylvania (1929); Moundsville (1956); Parkersburg (1964); Bellaire (1967); Martins Ferry (1973); and Steubenville (1975), creating a small regional chain that tied Ohio Valley communities together through shared advertising, promotions, and credit-based home furnishing. The store became locally famous for its “Santa’s Fiesta” holiday sale and its catchy jingle, which helped cement Reichart in Wheeling’s commercial memory. Future furniture entrepreneur Chris Miller, later founder of Chris Miller Furniture in 1979, began his career at Reichart in 1959, underscoring the firm’s role as a training ground for local retail talent. The Levenson family operated the company until the death of Robert L. Levenson in 1990; his widow continued briefly before selling Reichart’s four remaining stores to Richmond-based Heilig-Meyers in May 1992. Heilig-Meyers itself entered bankruptcy in 2000, closing a chapter that began on Wheeling’s Main Street.
 
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/ycefsa4u), West Virginia Secretary of State (https://tinyurl.com/435h5w2n), Heilig-Meyers (https://tinyurl.com/33zyavev)
 
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV

​Today in Wheeling History: March 14--Robert J. Otten, influential Wheeling interior designer and civic volunteer, dies in Wheeling (2005).  
 
Robert John “Bob” Otten was born January 26, 1920, in Newark, New Jersey, the only child of Frederick and Florence Kern Otten. He graduated from Arts High School and then from Parsons School of Design in New York City in 1942, majoring in interior and theatrical stage design.  During World War II, he served from 1943 to 1946 in the U.S. Army Air Corps, assigned to the Camouflage and Special Services Group at Walterboro, South Carolina, where he designed sets and visual environments for troop entertainment.   
 
In 1946, Otten moved to Wheeling to become Oglebay Park’s first drama director, staging plays and helping shape the park’s emerging cultural life.  In 1950 he joined Stone & Thomas in Charleston as sales promotion director, then returned to Wheeling in 1962 as the company’s director of interior design, creating store interiors, window displays, and seasonal decorations that many residents remember as part of downtown’s visual identity.  Beyond his professional work, Otten was deeply involved in public service and the arts, contributing to local cultural organizations and community projects over several decades. He died in Wheeling on March 14, 2005, and is buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery, further cementing his lasting connection to the city he helped beautify.  
 
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/mwx2dd2r); Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/2s3ubmzv)
 
Photo caption and credit: Robert J. Otten (Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV)

​Today in Wheeling History: March 16--Edwin M. “Ned” Steckel Jr., Emmy-winning network television producer and Wheeling native by adoption, dies at age 87 (2018).
 
Edwin M. “Ned” Steckel Jr. (1930–2018) became one of Wheeling’s most accomplished figures in national sports broadcasting while remaining deeply rooted in the city that shaped him. Born in Gastonia, North Carolina, he moved to Wheeling in 1936 when his father, Edwin M. Steckel, joined Oglebay Institute as its first full-time staff member and later executive director. His mother, Nina Gooding Steckel, taught in Ohio Valley schools, anchoring the family in local educational life.  
 
Ned attended Linsly Military Institute from 1941 to 1948, excelling as a swimmer and holding Ohio Valley Conference records in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle. After graduating from Linsly in 1948, he studied at the University of Michigan and Bethany College, then completed a bachelor’s degree in journalism at Syracuse University in 1953 and a master’s in communications in 1954. 
 
Steckel went on to a distinguished career as a network television producer, most notably with ABC Sports, where his work earned a national Emmy Award and placed him behind some of the era’s most-watched broadcasts. His achievements later brought him induction into the Wheeling Hall of Fame in 2023, recognized in the Sports and Athletics category. Ned died March 16, 2018, and is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania, but his professional legacy and Wheeling identity remain closely intertwined.   
 
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/yyzh5s5y), Grisell Funeral Homes (https://tinyurl.com/mpav4a7c), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/yc5s7sk4)
 
Photo caption and credit: Edwin M. “Ned” Steckel Jr. (Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV)

Today in Wheeling History: March 13—Wheeling-born architect Kenneth Franzheim, designer of Houston landmarks such as the Gulf Building and Foley’s Department Store, along with additional major Houston commissions including the Humble Oil Building, the Prudential Building, the Texas National Bank Building, the Bank of the Southwest Building, and the United States Courthouse, as well as New York City’s August Wilson Theatre, dies in Mexico City (1959).
 
Kenneth Franzheim was born in Wheeling on October 28, 1890, to Charles William and Lida Riddle Merts Franzheim, members of a well‑established German-American family active in the city’s pottery and business circles. He grew up in an environment shaped by industry and civic ambition, influences that later aligned with his interest in large-scale commercial architecture. His extended family also included Edward Bates Franzheim, one of West Virginia’s most accomplished architects, whose work in Wheeling set an early example of professional architectural achievement within the family.  
 
Franzheim attended the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey and earned his architecture degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1913. After early work in Boston and service in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Ellington Field during World War I, he practiced with C. Howard Crane in Chicago and Boston before opening his own New York firm in 1925. His career accelerated through his partnership with Houston developer Jesse H. Jones, leading to major commissions such as the Gulf Building, Foley’s Department Store, the Humble Oil Building, the Prudential Building, the Texas National Bank Building, the Bank of the Southwest Building, and the United States Courthouse in Houston, along with New York’s August Wilson Theatre. Franzheim moved permanently to Houston in 1937 and remained active in civic and philanthropic work until his death in Mexico City on March 13, 1959.
 
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives (https://tinyurl.com/58n44nph) (https://tinyurl.com/y2zs4nuz); Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/w5vdmbk3), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/y2cksrvk), Texas State Historical Association (https://tinyurl.com/btenj8ff), Houston Mod (https://tinyurl.com/3nkppybm)
 
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Wikimedia Commons, Find a Grave, Texas State Historical Association, Old Post Cards, Field Trip

​Today in Wheeling History: March 12—Wheeling Hospital, the “Mother Hospital of West Virginia,” is chartered in Wheeling (1850).
 
Wheeling Hospital, chartered on March 12, 1850, stands as one of the oldest continuously operating hospitals in the United States and the oldest in West Virginia. Its origins trace to informal charitable care in Wheeling, where Mrs. Barnes’s home served as a makeshift infirmary for patients referred by local physicians. Recognizing the need for a permanent institution, Bishop Richard Whelan partnered with pioneering surgeon Dr. Simon Hullihen—later joined by Dr. John Frissell and Dr. Matthew Houston—to establish a formal hospital serving the rapidly growing industrial city. In 1853, six Sisters of St. Joseph arrived from Missouri to staff the facility, and the hospital soon moved into the Metcalf property on 15th Street. Continued expansion led to its relocation in 1856 to the Michael Sweeney mansion in North Wheeling, where it remained for more than a century.
 
During the Civil War, the U.S. Army commandeered the hospital in 1864, converting it into a military facility that treated both Union and Confederate wounded. The hospital continued to grow in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, opening a nursing school in 1900 and replacing its aging structure with a new building in 1933. In 1975, Wheeling Hospital moved to its modern campus in the Clator neighborhood. In recent years, the institution entered a new chapter when it became part of WVU Medicine, strengthening its clinical resources, specialty services, and regional healthcare network while maintaining its historic mission of service to the Ohio Valley.
 
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/4ttfnjtx) (https://tinyurl.com/2dm5xa47) (https://tinyurl.com/2s3h6pdw) (https://tinyurl.com/39kk2vd6) (https://tinyurl.com/39z8hmjm); West Virginia Encyclopedia – “Wheeling Hospital” (https://tinyurl.com/hvsdtuc6), WVU Medicine (https://tinyurl.com/y9fmefk5), Wikimedia (https://tinyurl.com/2s4kvd3u), West Virginia Public Broadcasting (https://tinyurl.com/2s4kvd3u)
 
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Wikimedia Commons, WV Encyclopedia

​Today in Wheeling History: March 11—Mary Elizabeth Fassig (Keyser), future vaudeville performer and longtime Wheeling dance teacher, is born in the city (1905).
 
Mary Elizabeth Fassig (later Keyser) was born March 11, 1905, in Wheeling to Percival (often recorded as Percilva) Fassig and Mary Ellen Altmeyer Fassig. Her father, a Columbus, Ohio native, worked at Wheeling’s Hazel-Atlas Glass Company and played cello with the Wheeling Symphony, while her mother was the daughter of Luke and Mary Hartung Altmeyer, rooting Mary firmly in local Catholic and German-American Wheeling families. She attended Ohio County public schools, where her early aptitude for dance emerged.
 
As a young woman, Fassig left Wheeling to perform professionally on the national vaudeville circuits, gaining recognition as a skilled dancer and entertainer during the final great era of vaudeville. After touring, she returned to her hometown and became closely associated with Wheeling’s Capitol Theatre, appearing in stage productions and helping sustain live performance in the city as movies and radio transformed popular entertainment.
 
Fassig eventually married Thomas Kenneth Keyser and continued her life’s work as a teacher of dance, operating a studio and mentoring generations of Wheeling-area children and young adults. Her long career made her a cultural fixture and a bridge between the vaudeville age and modern community arts education. She died in September 1986 in St. Clairsville, Ohio, and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Wheeling. In 2015, she was posthumously inducted into the Wheeling Hall of Fame in the Music and Fine Arts category.
 
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/yr6u7jy9), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/3s269saj), WTRF (https://tinyurl.com/msk8x9fc), Ancestry (https://tinyurl.com/mrx9cr49), Archiving Wheeling (https://tinyurl.com/3earnw4t)
 
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Find a Grave

​Today in Wheeling History: March 10--The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway was incorporated to transport coal from eastern Ohio mines to Lake Erie ports (1871).
 
The first Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway (W&LE) was incorporated on March 10, 1871, as the Wheeling & Lake Erie Rail Road Company. It was the vision of Joel Wood, who believed a profitable enterprise lay in the transportation of coal from eastern Ohio mines to Lake Erie ports. Initially, the railway faced financial difficulties, earning the nickname "Wailing and Leg Weary" due to its slow progress. However, with the investment from financier Jay Gould in 1880, the railway resumed construction and expanded its network. The W&LE's mainline ran from Wheeling to Zanesville to Cleveland, and it eventually connected Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Toledo, Ohio. The railway primarily transported coal, iron ore, and general merchandise, contributing significantly to the industrial growth of the region. The W&LE developed new docks on Lake Erie at Huron, which opened on May 21, 1884, receiving its first cargo of iron ore. The railway also acquired the Cleveland, Canton & Southern Railroad in 1899, expanding its reach. Despite its name, the W&LE's mainline never actually reached Wheeling, West Virginia. The railway was leased to the New York, Chicago, and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate Road) in 1949 and merged into the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1988. In 1990, a new Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway was established, continuing to operate freight services in Northern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.
 
To learn more: Wikipedia  (https://tinyurl.com/mppsafbj), Cleveland Memory Project (https://tinyurl.com/5fymvycy), Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Company (https://tinyurl.com/ypf9zbw7)
 
Photo caption and credit: The train 4018 on the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway. (NSRailfan412, Wikimedia Commons)

​Today in Wheeling History: March 10--Michael Francis “M. F.” Tighe, future steelworker and national labor leader, is born in Wheeling’s industrial river city (1858).  
 
Michael Francis Tighe (1858–1940) emerged from Wheeling’s mills to become one of the most important, if cautious, labor leaders in the American steel industry. Born in Wheeling to a steelworker father, he entered the city’s industrial world at age ten, earning two dollars a week in a nail factory along the Ohio River. By fourteen he was a full-fledged steelworker and later apprenticed with the Sons of Vulcan, an early craft union that shaped his understanding of organization and discipline in the mills.  
 
Settled in Wheeling, Tighe spent roughly twenty-seven years at the Wheeling Iron and Steel Company, becoming deeply rooted in the city’s working-class neighborhoods and union lodges. He joined the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers in 1880 and quickly gained a reputation for reliability and procedural skill, representing his lodge at multiple national conventions. Locally, he rose to president of the Ohio Valley Trades and Labor Assembly, where the Wheeling Intelligencer praised his experience and steady temperament in 1896.  
 
Nationally, Tighe served as secretary-treasurer of the Amalgamated Association from 1911 to 1919, then as president until the end of 1936, guiding the union through mechanization, corporate consolidation, and the New Deal era. Known for his relative conservatism, he initially opposed John L. Lewis and the CIO but eventually cooperated with the Steel Workers Organizing Committee as industrial unionism surged. His long career links Wheeling’s shop floors to the broader story of American labor.  
 
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/yc8az44z); Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/2s3wzxyp), Find a Grave  (https://tinyurl.com/54ymwuj9)
 
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Find a Grave

Today in Wheeling History: March 9—Bill Van Horne, legendary Ohio Valley sportswriter, was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio (1921).
 
William F. Van Horne was born March 9, 1921, in Martins Ferry, Ohio, the only child of James F. and Adria McGlumphy Van Horne. He graduated from Martins Ferry High School in 1939 and attended a six-week journalism course at Northwestern University. In 1941, when the Martins Ferry Times-Leader's sports editor was called to war, Van Horne was hired as his replacement—his first week covering Martins Ferry High School's basketball championship quest. He served as sports editor of the Times-Leader for 25 years before becoming sports editor of the Wheeling News-Register in 1966, a position he held until his death on June 11, 1995. During his 54-year career, Van Horne covered major sporting events including Rose Bowls, World Series games, the Indianapolis 500, and Olympic trials. He witnessed Bill Mazeroski's historic 1960 World Series home run and maintained close relationships with Ohio Valley sports legends including John Havlicek, Phil and Joe Niekro, Lou Groza, and Bobby Douglas. Van Horne received numerous honors including West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year (1972), Upper Ohio Valley Dapper Dan Man of the Year (1993), and three-time West Virginia Wrestling Sportswriter of the Year. He was the first West Virginia sportswriter elected to the Football Writers of America Board of Directors. Posthumously, the grandstand at Wheeling Jesuit University's track was named in his honor, and he was inducted into multiple halls of fame. Van Horne is survived by his widow Gladys, a retired News-Register family editor.
 
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/s6pc4bar); Lou Holtz Hall of Fame (https://tinyurl.com/mvfckpya), The Times Leader (https://tinyurl.com/3ka6srfx)
 
Photo caption and credit: Bill Van Horne (1921-1995) (Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV)

​Today in Wheeling History: March 8—Former Wheeling glassworker and later Illinois political leader and benefactor William Reddick dies in Ottawa, Illinois (1885).
 
William Reddick (1812–1885) was born in Ballynahinch, County Down, Ireland, and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1816. After early years in New Jersey and Ohio, he was sent at age fourteen to Wheeling, then part of Virginia, to apprentice as a glass blower. His work in Wheeling’s glasshouses—demanding, hot, and disciplined—earned him four dollars per month and provided the foundation for his later advancement. Reddick remained in the glass trade through the 1820s, moving to Brownsville, Pennsylvania in 1830 and then to Washington, D.C. in 1832, where he continued blowing glass by day while attending night school. Through careful saving, he accumulated $1,000, a substantial sum that enabled him to move west. In 1835, he and his wife Eliza settled in LaSalle County, Illinois, where he became a farmer, landowner, and civic leader. Reddick served as sheriff from 1838 to 1846 and later as an Illinois state senator. His philanthropy included support for public education and the early University of Illinois. He died in Ottawa on March 8, 1885, and is buried in Ottawa Avenue Cemetery. His rise began in Wheeling’s industrial world, where his apprenticeship shaped his character and future success.
 
To learn more: LaSalle County Illinois (https://tinyurl.com/dkdxzvft), Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/49pd6ncc), Reddick Mansion and Gardens (https://tinyurl.com/3ked3h84), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/5rmmdkhf)
 
Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons, Find a Grave