Wheeling (pop. 27,052; met. area pop. 139,513) is an industrial city on the Ohio River in northern West Virginia. The city has an area of 16 square miles (41 square kilometers). It includes Wheeling Island in the Ohio River. Wheeling is the seat of Ohio County. The Wheeling metropolitan area includes Belmont County in Ohio.
Wheeling lies on a level plain, which rises to steep hills, along the Ohio River. A scenic plaza was built in the heart of the business district. Two bridges connect Wheeling Island with the rest of the city. A greyhound race track, hotel, and casino occupy one end of the island. Wheeling has two principal parks and several neighborhood parks. Oglebay Park, a 1,650-acre (668-hectare) recreational area, lies outside the city.
Wheeling has a number of public and private schools. Wheeling University is in the city, and West Liberty University is nearby.
Wheeling lies near West Virginia’s great coal- and natural-gas-producing region, and these minerals furnish power for many of the city’s industries. Wheeling was once a center of glass, iron and steel, and textile manufacturing. Today, important products produced in Wheeling include aluminum-coated steel, bronze, and tin plate. The city is also a coal shipping center.
Tourism is the most important industry in Wheeling, which attracts visitors with its parks, historic sites, and local events. A Winter Festival of Lights is held from mid-November to early January. Wheeling has a number of hospitals and is a medical center for the surrounding region.
Colonel Ebenezer Zane and his brothers founded Wheeling in the winter of 1769-1770. They came from the south branch of the Potomac Valley in Virginia to settle a claim at the city’s present site. Other settlers soon joined them, and in 1774 they erected Fort Fincastle. In 1776, they changed the fort’s name to Fort Henry in honor of Patrick Henry. Wheeling was laid out in 1793, incorporated in 1806, and first chartered as a city in 1836. The National Road, now U.S. Highway 40, reached the Ohio River at Wheeling in 1818.
During the American Civil War (1861-1865), Wheeling was the headquarters of Virginians who opposed secession from the Union. Union supporters organized the state of West Virginia in Wheeling on June 20, 1863, and the city served as the state capital from 1863 to 1870 and from 1875 to 1885. Wheeling has a council-manager form of government.
