<\/div>\n
\n
Infrastructure<\/h2>\n
\n
$\"Wharf$ <\/a>
Wharf garage just built, ca. 1958 (Photo by Ellis Dungan, OCPL Archives).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The organization could also point with pride to tangible infrastructure projects, such as the construction of the 880-car Wharf Parking Garage along the river. As in other cities, the rise of the automobile presented a major challenge to a community designed around pedestrians, horses, and later trolleys. The mid-1950s witnessed a flurry of transportation improvements, including construction of the Ft. Henry Bridge as well as proposals for the Wheeling Tunnel and upgrades to US 40 and WV 2.<\/p>\n
Better roads and bridges, however, brought even more vehicles to a downtown that \u201clacks adequate parking facilities for the thousands of shoppers, workers and casual visitors.\u201d A recommendation by the Parking and Traffic Committee of the Wheeling Conference led to the creation of a municipal parking authority and the selection of the old wharf property at\u00a0the foot of 12th Street as the site for the city\u2019s first parking garage. In the summer of 1954, the newly opened garage was featured in the promotional video Wheels to Progress<\/a><\/em>, directed by well-known filmmaker Ellis Dungan<\/a>. ^{3<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n}
\n
Urban Renewal<\/h2>\n
\n
$\"Construction$ <\/a>
Construction of Wheeling Tunnel (photo by Ellis Dungan, OCPL Archives).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Drawing inspiration from the redevelopment of Pittsburgh\u2019s downtown Golden Triangle, in November 1959 a group of Wheeling Conference members and public officials traveled to their larger neighbor for advice on starting their own urban renewal program. Shortly after their trip, the newly created Urban Renewal Authority<\/a> of Wheeling, chaired by the Wheeling Conference\u2019s Robert Levenson, submitted a plan to redevelop a large part of the Center Wheeling neighborhood, documenting numerous examples of \u201cblight\u201d as well as high rates of tuberculosis, infant mortality, juvenile delinquency, and arrests. For proponents, Center Wheeling was notorious for its taverns, brothels and slums, while a planned industrial park would \u201cfor the first time \u2026 attract satellite industries within its city limits.\u201d However, we can turn for another perspective to Darlene Stradwick<\/a>, who lived in the area as a child. \u201cAll the blacks lived in Center Wheeling,\u201d she recalled. \u201cIt was great. There were family neighborhoods.\u201d But, when \u201cthe state\/federal projects came through, they moved from Center Wheeling to East Wheeling.\u201d ^{4<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n}
Urban Renewal Authority Images of Center Wheeling<\/h2>\n
This slideshow requires JavaScript.<\/p>
<\/div>\n
\n
What Went Wrong?<\/h2>\n
\n
Despite the successes of the Wheeling Renaissance, Wheeling Conference members struggled to maintain the strong public-private partnership necessary for urban renewal. The city lacked the financial resources of Pittsburgh and local residents proved unwilling to raise taxes to generate the needed funds as civic boosters failed to garner the 60 percent support needed for passage on an urban renewal levy not once, but twice. Faced with the inability to mobilize sufficient votes for a property tax increase,\u00a0Levenson helped organize the Downtown Wheeling Associates<\/a>, a merchants group that approached city council with a proposal to increase the gross sales tax in order to meet the local obligations for urban renewal.<\/p>\n
$\"Wheeling$ <\/a>
Wheeling Post Office dedication program (OCPL Archives).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
By the end of 1963, land in the scaled down project area was almost fully acquired, had been 50 percent demolished and was being advertised \u201cfor light industrial use\u201d with \u201cmodern improvements\u201d and \u201call utilities on site.\u201d After the heroic efforts required to fund the Center Wheeling project, however, officials struggled to actually find industrial tenants. They eventually settled for a new post office<\/a> and a trucking company \u2013 not exactly the catalyst for economic growth proponents had envisioned.<\/span>^{5<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n}
The Wheeling Conference faded away by the mid-1960s with some of its activities folded into a new Chamber of Commerce. Despite the loss of its key proponent, the Wheeling Renaissance continued in the activities of the Urban Renewal Authority, which followed up its first project with another venture in Center Wheeling clearing land for an expansion of the Ohio Valley Medical Center. As this second, more successful development wrapped up by the end of the decade, civic leaders turned their attention to the thorny issue of what to do with the old Market Auditorium<\/a> in the heart of the central business district.<\/p>\n
$\"Market$ <\/a>
Market Auditorium, ca. 1958 (Photo by Ellis Dungan, OCPL Archives).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The struggle over that site, which was demolished in 1964, would finally tear apart the fragile partnership that first made possible the Wheeling Renaissance.<\/p>\n
[This is the first in a series of three posts by\u00a0Allen Dieterich-Ward<\/a>\u00a0on Wheeling\u2019s past attempts at renaissance.\u00a0\u00a0Part 2 will explore the \u201cFt. Henry Mall,\u201d and Part 3, the Wheeling National Heritage Area.]<\/em><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
Author\u2019s Note<\/h2>\n
While writing his book, Beyond Rust: Metropolitan Pittsburgh and the Fate of Industrial America<\/a>, Dr. Dieterich-Ward, Associate Professor of History at Shippensburg University<\/a>,\u00a0did a great deal of research at the Ohio County Public Library, frequently accessing the Wheeling Room and the library\u2019s archives. He appeared at the library\u2019s Lunch With Books, Nov. 24, 2015<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n
$\"Beyond$ <\/a>
Beyond Rust<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
$\"Allen$
Allen Dieterich-Ward<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
I first began research on Wheeling in 2003 looking through the creaky metal cabinets of the Ohio County Public Library\u2019s Vertical File and reading the oral histories of the Wheeling Area Historical Database. Now more than a decade later, those materials are still central to telling the story of the Upper Ohio Valley as I do in my new book Beyond Rust<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n
From the newsletter of the Wheeling Area Conference on Community Development to the original proposal for the controversial Ft. Henry Mall to David Javersak\u2019s<\/a> 1994 description of Steubenville\u2019s abandoned urban core (\u201cYou could let off a howitzer \u2026 and not harm a soul), researchers and residents alike should be grateful for the foresight of OCPL staff in maintaining this invaluable glimpse into our shared history.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve also benefitted tremendously from two more recent acquisitions generously donated by patrons. The Harry Hamm Papers<\/a> cover the career of one of the city\u2019s most productive and long-serving civic boosters, whose activities extended from helping to found the Wheeling Conference in 1953 to initiating the \u201cWheeling 2000\u201d proposal for downtown redevelopment in 1987. Hamm\u2019s involvement with the Benedum Foundation further emphasizes the close connections between the Upper Ohio Valley and Pittsburgh, a key theme of my research and writing.<\/p>\n
The Robert L. Levenson Archives<\/a>, donated in 2010 by Levenson\u2019s son, opened up another important window into Wheeling\u2019s post-World War II development. Levenson, the president of Reichart Furniture, helped start the Wheeling Conference and served as the first chair of the city\u2019s Urban Renewal Authority. He was also the founder and first president of the Downtown Wheeling Associates, a merchant\u2019s group established, in part, to support the urban renewal program in Center Wheeling. Levenson\u2019s collection is particularly interesting because of his emergence in the late 1960s as a fierce opponent of urban renewal in the central business district, a change of heart revealed by the inclusion of a \u201cFort Henry Mall No No No\u201d\u00a0bumper sticker and other materials.<\/p>\n
$\"Fort$
Fort Henry Mall \u201cNo No No\u201d Bumper Sticker, Robert Levenson Collection, OCPL Archives<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
-Allen Dieterich-Ward, January 4, 2016
\n<\/em><\/p>\n
\n
Notes and Sources<\/h3>\n
\n
1<\/a>^{\u0002<\/sup> Harry Hamm, Rebirth of Wheeling: A Series of Ten Articles Reprinted from the Wheeling News-<\/i>Register, July 1956; Harry Hamm, The Conference Story<\/i>, c. 1957. Both in Box 1,}Harry Hamm Papers<\/a>, OCPL.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
2<\/a>^{\u0002<\/sup> Hamm, \u201cThe Conference Story\u201d; Mary Chilton Chapman, \u201cAnti-Smoke Law Studied by Wheeling,\u201d Charleston Gazette<\/i>, January 14, 1955; John B. Hunter II, Marine Memories<\/i>, interview by Carrie Noble-Kline and Steven W. Franklin, June 7, 1994, Wheeling Area Historical Database, OCPL.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n}
\n
3<\/a>^{\u0002<\/sup> Wheeling Area Conference on Community Development, Report of the Parking and Traffic Committee to the Wheeling Area Conference<\/i> on Community Development<\/i>, June 1954, Box 1,}Harry Hamm Papers<\/a>; \u201c\u2019Live on the Hills and Work in the City\u2019 is Credo of Wheeling Planning Group,\u201d Wheeling Intelligencer<\/i>, Dec. 25, 1962; Ellis Dungan, dir., Wheels to Progress<\/a><\/i> (Wheeling: Ellis Dungan Productions, 1959).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
4<\/a>^{\u0002<\/sup> Wheeling Area Conference on Community Development, Inc., Francis Dodd McHugh,and Fred Utevsky, Plan of Future Land-Use<\/i>, May 1957, Box 1,}Robert L. L<\/a>evenson Papers, OCPL<\/a>. \u201cEnlarged Business District Seen Here,\u201d Wheeling Intelligencer<\/i>, Oct. 25, 1956; \u201cRedevelopment Plan Approval Awaited,\u201d \u201cPlanning Commission Takes Active Role in \u2018Forward Wheeling,\u2019\u201d and Jones, \u201cPast President\u2019s Report,\u201d all in Highlights on Community Progress<\/i>, April 1957; Urban Renewal Authority of Wheeling, \u201cFact Sheet on Center Wheeling Development Project,\u201d c. 1959. All materials are from \u201cWheeling City Planning\u201d Folder, Vertical File, OCPL. Darlene Stradwick, \u201cGrowing Up as One of 13 Kids: Entrenched Values,\u201d interview by Carrie Nobel Kline and Michael Nobel Kline, May 16, 1994, Wheeling Area Historical Database, OCPL.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
5<\/a>^{\u0002<\/sup> \u201cFact Sheet on Center Wheeling Redevelopment Project\u201d; \u201cLight Industrial District Urged for Center Wheeling,\u201d Wheeling News Register<\/i>, Jan. 2, 1957, \u201cWheeling City Planning\u201d Folder, Vertical File, OCPL; \u201cOur Hats Are Off,\u201d editorial [reprinted from the Wheeling News-Register<\/i>], Morgantown Post<\/i>, Aug. 13, 1960; Urban Renewal Authority of Wheeling, \u201cLand for Sale\u2026 For Light Industrial Use Located Near Business District,\u201d advertisement, Charleston Gazette-Mail<\/i>, June 9, 1963.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n}
\n
<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An Archiving Wheeling partnership with Weelunk.com. \u201cAs Great a City as its Citizens Want it to Be\u201d If you had tuned into Wheeling\u2019s WTRF television station fifty years ago, you may have caught an on-air announcement for \u201cThe Rebirth of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":3348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[356],"tags":[477,487,486,291,485,254,473,258,482,484,475,481,480,479,476,135,478,292,483,474],"coauthors":[492],"class_list":["post-3132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-history-researcher","tag-centre-wheeling","tag-chamber-of-commerce","tag-downtown-wheeling-associates","tag-ellis-r-dungan","tag-ft-henry-bridge","tag-harry-c-hamm","tag-harry-hamm-papers","tag-market-auditorium","tag-robert-l-levenson","tag-rust-belt","tag-urban-renewal","tag-wharf-parking-garage","tag-wheeling-area-conference-on-community-development","tag-wheeling-post-office","tag-wheeling-renaissance","tag-wheeling-room","tag-wheeling-tunnel","tag-wheels-to-progress","tag-wilbur-s-jones","tag-wtrf"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/FI-WheelingRenaissance.jpg?fit=851%2C315&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5pkc7-Ow","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3132"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3365,"href":"https:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3132\/revisions\/3365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3132"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archivingwheeling.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}