Today in Wheeling History: November 12—The Charles W. Russell House was added to the National Register of Historic Places (1993).
The Charles W. Russell House, located at 75 12th Street in Wheeling, West Virginia, is a Greek Revival-style brick residence built in 1848. It served as both the home and law office of Charles Wells Russell (1818–1867), a prominent Wheeling attorney best known for representing the Wheeling Suspension Bridge Company in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Russell’s legal acumen helped secure the bridge’s future, a vital link for commerce and travel across the Ohio River. The house gained further historical significance during the Civil War. Though Russell himself left Wheeling to join the Confederacy, his home was repurposed as the headquarters of the Union’s Army of West Virginia under General John C. Frémont during the war’s first winter. Frémont, a famed explorer and the first Republican presidential candidate, used the house as a strategic base. The structure’s architectural elegance and wartime role earned it a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Today, it stands as a testament to Wheeling’s legal, architectural, and military history, anchoring the city’s downtown historic district and offering insight into antebellum life and Civil War tensions in the region.
To learn more: Wikipedia – Charles W. Russell House (https://tinyurl.com/mpwzne6z), Historic Wheeling – Russell House (https://tinyurl.com/2h8dwjbt), Historical Marker Database (https://tinyurl.com/4avc4meu), Waymarking – Russell House (https://tinyurl.com/zehaf62d)
Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons, Historic Wheeling, Historical Marker Database, Waymarking
The Charles W. Russell House, located at 75 12th Street in Wheeling, West Virginia, is a Greek Revival-style brick residence built in 1848. It served as both the home and law office of Charles Wells Russell (1818–1867), a prominent Wheeling attorney best known for representing the Wheeling Suspension Bridge Company in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Russell’s legal acumen helped secure the bridge’s future, a vital link for commerce and travel across the Ohio River. The house gained further historical significance during the Civil War. Though Russell himself left Wheeling to join the Confederacy, his home was repurposed as the headquarters of the Union’s Army of West Virginia under General John C. Frémont during the war’s first winter. Frémont, a famed explorer and the first Republican presidential candidate, used the house as a strategic base. The structure’s architectural elegance and wartime role earned it a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Today, it stands as a testament to Wheeling’s legal, architectural, and military history, anchoring the city’s downtown historic district and offering insight into antebellum life and Civil War tensions in the region.
To learn more: Wikipedia – Charles W. Russell House (https://tinyurl.com/mpwzne6z), Historic Wheeling – Russell House (https://tinyurl.com/2h8dwjbt), Historical Marker Database (https://tinyurl.com/4avc4meu), Waymarking – Russell House (https://tinyurl.com/zehaf62d)
Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons, Historic Wheeling, Historical Marker Database, Waymarking
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