Wheeling’s Main Street Stone Arch Bridge: Hidden in Plain Sight
To appreciate Wheeling’s architectural gems, one is typically advised to look up. This is generally good advice, but in some cases, one must look down, and under, and around — trees, shrubs, cables, street signs, utility poles and concrete abutments. Such is the case with the somewhat under-appreciated Main Street Stone Arch Bridge.
As a river town, Wheeling has been home to its share of interesting bridges, including famous ones, like our cherished marvel of engineering suspended over the Ohio and our durable little double stone arch in Elm Grove, the oldest bridge in the state.
But there is a third significant, yet less celebrated bridge in Wheeling — one that serves stoically and inconspicuously, despite spanning what is arguably the most myth-infused site in our myth-saturated town.
And today is an important day for the bridge in question. One hundred twenty-four years ago today, at 18 minutes past 2 in the afternoon of December 17, 1891, the keystone for Wheeling’s new stone bridge on Main Street was lowered into place.