Today in Wheeling History: May 6—J. B. Chambers, longtime Elm Grove resident, president of the First National Bank and Trust of Elm Grove, and noted benefactor of Wheeling youth, dies at his home in West Alexander, Pennsylvania (1933).
James Buchanan “J. B.” Chambers was born December 19, 1854, on Taylor Farm in rural Ohio County, West Virginia, to Samuel and Nancy Chambers. He attended the local Buchanan School, then West Alexander Academy just over the Pennsylvania line, and later Iron City College in Pittsburgh, where he gained the commercial training that underpinned his career in business and banking. In 1872, his family moved to a farm along the National Road at Elm Grove, land that would later host the J. B. Chambers Family YMCA. Chambers married Arabelle May Whitham in 1876; they eventually had two children, Hazel Geneva and Alvin Brunel. In 1881, the couple settled in West Alexander, Pennsylvania, but Chambers’ financial and philanthropic reach increasingly centered on Wheeling. He founded the Elm Grove Mining Company in 1893 and later helped organize the First National Bank and Trust Company of Elm Grove, as well as banks in West Alexander. In 1924, he created the J. B. Chambers Memorial Foundation, dedicated to the children of Ohio County and West Alexander. He died May 6, 1933, in West Alexander, but his name now marks Wheeling’s ball fields, performing arts center, YMCA, recreation park, and youth programs that continue his quiet, durable investment in local children.
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/48f8zrc2); James B. Chambers Memorial Foundation (https://tinyurl.com/53ps5br9), Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/2827t5e8), WTRF (https://tinyurl.com/hd26sh5f), Cause IQ (https://tinyurl.com/mtu9n9nm), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/yzywfeze) , City of Wheeling - Elm Grove Survey Report (https://tinyurl.com/2p9pjp4r)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Google Maps, Oglebay Park, Find a Grave, City of Wheeling, Weelunk
James Buchanan “J. B.” Chambers was born December 19, 1854, on Taylor Farm in rural Ohio County, West Virginia, to Samuel and Nancy Chambers. He attended the local Buchanan School, then West Alexander Academy just over the Pennsylvania line, and later Iron City College in Pittsburgh, where he gained the commercial training that underpinned his career in business and banking. In 1872, his family moved to a farm along the National Road at Elm Grove, land that would later host the J. B. Chambers Family YMCA. Chambers married Arabelle May Whitham in 1876; they eventually had two children, Hazel Geneva and Alvin Brunel. In 1881, the couple settled in West Alexander, Pennsylvania, but Chambers’ financial and philanthropic reach increasingly centered on Wheeling. He founded the Elm Grove Mining Company in 1893 and later helped organize the First National Bank and Trust Company of Elm Grove, as well as banks in West Alexander. In 1924, he created the J. B. Chambers Memorial Foundation, dedicated to the children of Ohio County and West Alexander. He died May 6, 1933, in West Alexander, but his name now marks Wheeling’s ball fields, performing arts center, YMCA, recreation park, and youth programs that continue his quiet, durable investment in local children.
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/48f8zrc2); James B. Chambers Memorial Foundation (https://tinyurl.com/53ps5br9), Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/2827t5e8), WTRF (https://tinyurl.com/hd26sh5f), Cause IQ (https://tinyurl.com/mtu9n9nm), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/yzywfeze) , City of Wheeling - Elm Grove Survey Report (https://tinyurl.com/2p9pjp4r)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Google Maps, Oglebay Park, Find a Grave, City of Wheeling, Weelunk
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