Today in Wheeling History: November 26—Archibald Woods Paull, industrialist and president of Nail City Lantern Company, was born in Wheeling (1845).
Archibald Woods Paull (1845–1898) emerged as a key figure in Wheeling’s late 19th-century manufacturing boom. The son of Judge James Paull, he was born in Wheeling on November 26, 1845, and educated locally at the Linsly Institute and Professor Wilson Harding’s select school. He continued his studies at Washington College in Washington, Pennsylvania from 1861 to 1865; surviving lecture notes place him in Wheeling’s educated mercantile class at the Civil War’s end. In 1877, Paull founded the Nail City Lantern Company on Water Street, producing double-globe lanterns in a four-story brick factory downtown; the firm later expanded into glass products and stamped goods, reflecting Wheeling’s diversification beyond iron and nail production. He served as company president, and in 1897 his son, Archibald W. Paull II, took over and rebranded the enterprise as Wheeling Stamping Company, shifting toward kerosene lanterns and lamp burners—an evolution that kept the firm aligned with changing technologies and markets. Paull married Caroline Brant Ott in Wheeling on October 15, 1868, and the couple’s family connections linked them to multiple generations of Paulls in local business, law, and civic leadership. He died in Wheeling on December 2, 1898, and was laid to rest in Greenwood Cemetery, where the Paull family plot and the nearby Woods mausoleum stand as enduring reminders of the family’s long-standing prominence in the city’s history.
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library, Wheeling WV (https://shorturl.at/M0k1f) (https://shorturl.at/W74kz) (https://shorturl.at/Hwr8C), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/yc6vdx26), WVU Library (https://tinyurl.com/yu72hjyz), The Clio (https://tinyurl.com/bdf7ykny), Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/3zvca6fh), Wikitree (https://tinyurl.com/4t34ev9v), GreeneScene Community Magazine (https://tinyurl.com/397pmrtv)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Find a Grave, Reddit
Archibald Woods Paull (1845–1898) emerged as a key figure in Wheeling’s late 19th-century manufacturing boom. The son of Judge James Paull, he was born in Wheeling on November 26, 1845, and educated locally at the Linsly Institute and Professor Wilson Harding’s select school. He continued his studies at Washington College in Washington, Pennsylvania from 1861 to 1865; surviving lecture notes place him in Wheeling’s educated mercantile class at the Civil War’s end. In 1877, Paull founded the Nail City Lantern Company on Water Street, producing double-globe lanterns in a four-story brick factory downtown; the firm later expanded into glass products and stamped goods, reflecting Wheeling’s diversification beyond iron and nail production. He served as company president, and in 1897 his son, Archibald W. Paull II, took over and rebranded the enterprise as Wheeling Stamping Company, shifting toward kerosene lanterns and lamp burners—an evolution that kept the firm aligned with changing technologies and markets. Paull married Caroline Brant Ott in Wheeling on October 15, 1868, and the couple’s family connections linked them to multiple generations of Paulls in local business, law, and civic leadership. He died in Wheeling on December 2, 1898, and was laid to rest in Greenwood Cemetery, where the Paull family plot and the nearby Woods mausoleum stand as enduring reminders of the family’s long-standing prominence in the city’s history.
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library, Wheeling WV (https://shorturl.at/M0k1f) (https://shorturl.at/W74kz) (https://shorturl.at/Hwr8C), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/yc6vdx26), WVU Library (https://tinyurl.com/yu72hjyz), The Clio (https://tinyurl.com/bdf7ykny), Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/3zvca6fh), Wikitree (https://tinyurl.com/4t34ev9v), GreeneScene Community Magazine (https://tinyurl.com/397pmrtv)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Find a Grave, Reddit
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