thebellrang

Please go to the following website for the new "The Bell Rang":

2009-06-15T21:35:00.000-07:00

Please go to the following website for the new "The Bell Rang":
http://ryanstanton.wordpress.com/

Old Gas Stations

2009-04-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

Last summer, while I was on some already forgotten errand in Ohio I took a few moments to take photographs of some one time gas stations. These stations were responsible for serving and maintaining the thirsty automobiles that traveled along America's first highway. Today, gas stations are still present in the small hamlets of Bridgeport, Ohio, but they are of the larger variety. Still plain and simple - and rather impersonal. The three gas stations that I am going to share all have one thing in common - each structure has an awning of some sort that motorist would pull under for service. The first is located just west of Bridgeport, and at this time was occupied by a "carpet outlet." The second station is located just a few blocks from the first. It is by far my favorite because of the buildings detail. The stonework and green clay tile shingles give the station a distinguished look, and the red decoration in the stonework adds to the overall appeal. Since I can remember, this station has never served gas, and its past occupants are unknown to me. Today the building appears to be vacant, but well maintained. The third station is the exact opposite, but I still like it. Located near Blaine, Ohio (west of Bridgeport), near the Blaine Hill bridge, this station has seen better days. With that said, there is still something special about it. This was probably a much smaller establishment than the prior two stations, but during its hey day I imagine the station having a welcoming personality. The roof looks to be in good shape, so maybe a future is in store for this station.
While student teaching this past semester I had the opportunity to observe first hand that it's the little things that matter. Little things such as old gas stations, abandoned mansions, tycoons like Henry Schmulbach, and historic spots can often turn into a magnitude of teachable moments. On my last day I decided to discuss the history of Wheeling with my students by utilizing video and some of my photographs. One student begged for my attention to privately ask the question, "How did they build houses back then?" After a short explanation, I told the student to notice the houses on their walk home from school. Social studies is all about being aware of your local community, and I have taken pride in having some of my students notice the little odds and ends of their community. These old gas stations can serve the same purpose. For example, photographs of taverns and gas stations could be used as an introduction to the road and it's many transformations. Kids notice things such as this, and from my experience, it's a good way to ignite the minds of students. "Hey... when I walk down the street, there are pot holes in the street, and I can see bricks underneath." Bingo - teachable moment.

The Hempfield Tunnel and Viaduct

2009-04-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

The Hempfied Tunnel and Viaduct was built monetarily on behalf of the citizens of Wheeling and Ohio County. Their effort raised $454,000 in private and government donations that went towards the construction of a tunnel and a five arch stone viaduct that crosses over Wheeling Creek. The Hempfield Tunnel is no longer in use by the railroad, but is instead used for a walking trial. At one time, at least seven different railroads companies passed through the city of Wheeling. Even while in use, though, the tunnel was said to have been haunted. Before work could begin on the tunnel, a section of graveyard above the tunnel needed to be relocated. It is rumored that some of the graves were "robbed," and some were not removed at all. The Wheeling Intelligencer reported in July of 1869 that ghost sightings were "confirmed." Late, in 1874 a New York Journalist claimed to have seen a spirit of some sort in the tunnel. Haunts, spirits, apparition's, spooks, phantoms -- all the like, enjoy hanging from the roof of the tunnel, and some have been reported as "floating above the tracks." Today the tunnel is known more for its supposed haunting than its actual purpose. On my visit to this portion of the walking trial I drove up Rock Point Road and stopped at a pullover a few hundred yards from the tunnel. I took advantage of an unusually warm late December day (around 65 degrees), and spent a few hours exploring the tunnel, and continued walking to East Wheeling where I stopped and turned around.
I first approached the tunnel walking towards the west. I thought this appropriate as I tried to imagine the trains, their sounds, and the people anxiously awaiting their arrival to Wheeling. Since the northern panhandle has been experiencing a wet spell, walking through the tunnel was like encountering a light rain shower, especially towards the middle of the tunnel. Water was spurting out in little sprinkles from the roof, holes, and cracks along the side. As I exited the western side of the tunnel I stepped onto the five arch stone viaduct. The viaduct was engineered by Charles Ellet Jr., the same man responsible for designing the Wheeling Suspension Bridge. Today the viaduct stands as monument to stone arch viaduct engineering, and the railroad industry. Instead of the whistle and smell of smoke from the massive locomotives that once ran the rails, today they are used by bikers, joggers, runners, walkers, and dogs. From rails to trials, there is not one usable train track in Ohio County. It's interesting to note that parallel to the walking trial runs Interstate 70. From freight cars to 18 wheelers - what's next? To view more photographs of the tunnel (inside etc.), please visit my flickr page.

The Lewis Wetzel Cave

2009-03-08T15:10:00.000-07:00

As of late I have been reading a lot about the famed Indian hunter Lewis Wetzel, so I thought it appropriate to explore some of his old stomping grounds. Most notably, there is Lewis Wetzel's Cave. It is said that Lewis Wetzel once tracked down an Indian who was hiding in the cave. The Indian would lure white settlers near the caves mouth by making the sound of a spirit or turkey call. As the whites neared the cave, the Indian would shoot the unsuspecting, a problem that plagued early residents of Wheeling. Lewis Wetzel, no fool, thought it to be an Indian, and patiently waited for the Indian to stick his head out from the cave. At that point, he shot the Indian dead. It's also said that Wetzel would hide at this spot and kill unsuspecting Indians who passed on the nearby trial, and sometimes he would even use the turkey call trick himself.

So, on March 7, 2009 I parked near Rock Point Road and started walking west on the walking trial that once used to be home to the B&O Railroad. After passing through the Hempfield Tunnel (or Tunnel Green), and exiting the tunnel on the west side, I started up the little trial that takes you to the Wetzel Cave. The trial is very short, but quite steep, with very little room to balance yourself along the hillside. I found the cave, snapped a few quick photographs, and decided to proceed on the trail to what is called Wetzel's shelter. I stopped, though, because I noticed a few people sitting near the rock shelter, and rather than bother them, I thought I would just come back on quieter day. As I walked away, I thought it funny that I was not the only person with Lewis Wetzel on my Saturday agenda. Thinking nothing of it, I went home, sprung my clock forward, and called it a day.

Then I awoke the next morning to the headline: Murder in Wetzel County. Robert Maine Jr. is accused of murdering his cousin Gregory G. Maine Jr. in Wetzel County West Virginia which is named after Lewis Wetzel. After the accused committed the act, he then looked for a place to hide out. Having family connections near the Hempfield Tunnel in Wheeling (Ohio County), he then decided to hide out... in Lewis Wetzel's Cave! After the authorities were tipped off they found Maine sleeping in the cave.

(Officer) Laing said his search team initially looked for Robert Maine at a home in the Tunnel Green section of Wheeling. According to Laing, Robert Maine later told investigators he needed rest, but he feared police would track him down if he slept in the East Wheeling home.

"We were actually able to apply the handcuffs without waking him up," Laing said. "The tip was well founded, and citizens in East Wheeling were crucial in providing on-the-spot info that he'd departed prior to our arrival. That's what set the manhunt on the trail and in the woods in motion. That's when we began to tighten the noose."

Lewis Wetzel was a known Indian murderer during the late 1770's, 1780's, and 1790's in the Wheeling area and beyond. A sort of lesser known version of Danial Boone or Davy Crocket; he was a true frontiersman. Members of his family had been killed by Indians, he had been captured by Indians, and his occupation was to kill Indians, guilty or innocent. He was a cold blooded killer, but to the people of Wheeling, Lewis Wetzel was a hero because they lived their life in fear of the Indian. During the two battles of Fort Henry, it was the British and Indians who attempted to kill them, and Wetzel's ruthless way of revenge was admired by those who had endured such attacks.

Indians feared him because they said that his gun was always loaded, and it was. He would put musket balls in his mouth, and while on the run he would spit the balls down the barrel of his gun, load, fire, and kill. Some Indians even thought Wetzel to be something of a supernatural spirit.

There's so much to say about Lewis Wetzel, and that time will come. But today I think it's interesting to go over the fact that while I innocently walked past the mouth of the cave, an accused killer was most likely inside, or was at least soon inside. Just a few hours after my passing of this cave, the others who were at the shelter, and countless walkers, joggers, and bikers on the paved trial, the suspect was aprehended.

Please click on the above photograph, and upon doing so you will be taken to my flickr page. Then scroll over the photograph. You will find notes that explain the location of the cave, shelter, etc.

The Reymann Residence

2009-03-04T19:41:00.000-08:00

Anton Reymann, like his competitor Henry Schmulbach was known as a beer baron, and one of Wheeling's brightest entrepreneurs. Where they differed, though, would be in their moral character. Schmulbach, a roughneck, lived in the heart of the German section, South Wheeling. Reymann, a man of upstanding moral character lived at the corner of 15th and Eoff Street. At the corner was a massive stone mansion. Elegant in traditional Victorian style, the home itself was far from ordinary. It's an empowering sight that no longer stands, and only a few images of the mansion can be easily found on-line, all in post card form.

Recently, Reymann was inducted into the Wheeling Hall of Fame for his contribution to the economic success of Wheeling during its heyday. Some of his more notable ventures where the Reymann Brewing Company, Wheeling Park Casino and Amusement Park, and the Altenheim Home for aged and friendless woman. Just like Schmulbach, Reyman invested in railroads, and served as vice president and president of various enterprises.

Henry Schmulbach and Anton Reyman were not simply millionaires of Wheeling, they helped build the city. As I've already briefly explored with Schmulbach, certain monuments to his life still stand in his memory, like the Schmulbach building. But, on the other hand, we have also seen the monuments to their legacy crumble in time, such as the Schmulbach mansion.

It's said that Schmulbach and Reymann were fierce competitors during their time, and even in their death I suppose they are still competing. Whose accomplishments can outlast that of the other?

The Reymann residence no longer stands in its glory, but one structure of the property has remained standing, the carriage house. Constructed of red brick (that has a wonderful reddish orange glow). The second story is decorated with two round medallions and wonderful round windows. A feature that is quite well known to brewery architecture can be seen on the front, and that is the face.

One of the brew gods faces can be seen from the top of the carriage house. Coinciding with the Victorian Era and brewery architecture, faces on buildings was a common theme. As of right now, I am unable to identify the god depicted on the carriage house, and I would be grateful for any help in that subject. It's also important to note the design of barley above the face.

The carriage house is all that remains of the old Reymann Residence. At some point an addition was added to the front of the structure which is now home to Padden's Pharmacy, 1414 Eoff Street.

More detail of the building can be seen here:

the side of the carriage house

detail of the medallions

another view

another view of the face

The City Bank of Wheeling, W.VA.

2009-02-22T15:25:00.000-08:00

My second post to feature the Richardsonian Romanesque style of architecture will describe what used to be the City Bank of Wheeling. The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer described its grand opening on November 11, 1891 as an event climaxed by the preceding weeks of bustling workers and onlookers...

"...crowds have congregated every day, busily engaged in watching the interesting work of elevating the immense pieces of granite used in the extremely handsome front of the new City Bank building. These varied from eleven tons down to a small block weighing but a few hundred pounds"

Built by Messrs. Renhalter & Co., in their construction the company used "gray granite from the quarries of Maine." The ground floor is set off by pillars of polished Johnsbury granite, and the top of the structure is ornamented with Spanish tiles, and the very top is decorated with a fleur-de-lis. Traslated from French, "fleur-de-lis" means the design of either a lilly or iris. This ornament helped make it one of the tallest buildings in the state of West Virginia, rising 125 from the sidewalk to the fleur-de-lis.

The interior was just as elegant. A banking room on the first floor was finished in hard wood, while the main entrance was fitted with "large swinging doors, ornamented with antique bronze and trimmings of the very latest style of art hardware." The upper floors were finished with marble wainscoting. Complete with the latest technology, a Otis hydraulic elevator was used to reach the upper floors which included 26 rooms that were used for office space. All were said to have been finished in Georgia pine.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="477" caption="Advertisment for the City Bank of Wheeling. Dates from around 1915."][/caption]

Lavatories, or restrooms were included on each floor, each complete with cold and hot water. Rather uniquely, the water was gathered from an artesian well beneath the building. What makes an artesian well unique is that no pumping is required. The water gathers pressure from the rock where it's stored (which absorbs the water from its original source), and the water actually flows up instead of down when the water finds an outlet.

Said to be composed of fire proof material, the bank was outfitted with Bostwick fire proof steel laths from a Wheeling steel manufacturer (the first building ever to do so), and the joist of the building are "very heavy and far apart, which makes the best of fire-proofs, in spite of all the devices so loudly praised in the East."

As the National Bank of West Virginia, the City Bank of Wheeling would undergo major changes as the city and its role in the economy changed. What a treat it would be if the building was still used as a bank, but instead it is now commonly referred to as the Professional Building, and has been used partly used as a doctors office.

Last year, the Friends of Wheeling toured this building, and I invite you to view some photographs from that tour which provides a sample of the buildings interior (like the Otis Elevator). The original cost of the building was $80,000. Today it's currently for sale and can be purchased for $250,0o0. For more history and more photographs, check out http://www.wheelingwvinvestmentproperty.com/index.html. Use the link to the left to navigate towards the pictures, history, floor plan, etc. When you view the photographs, you can view photographs from each floor of the building.

The Manchester Bridge

2009-02-12T17:31:00.000-08:00

Towards the south end of what is Rock Point Road, near what used to be the location of the Reymann Brewing Company, was a vital link to what is considered the back way to Wheeling. I know very little of what the Manchester Bridge used to look like, other than it was a partly steel one lane bridge that entered the south eastern section of Wheeling.

Traveling south on Rock Point Road, you would have crossed the Manchester Bridge over Big Wheeling Creek on to 17th street in Wheeling. According to an atlas from 1873 (courtesy of the David Rumsey collection) this section of Wheeling would have been called Manchester or New Manchester, possibly relating to a one time property owner. The 1873 atlas shows a bridge crossing Big Wheeling Creek in the general vicinity, and even a search on Google maps today shows a bridge, but all that remains is the stand stone abutment that once carried traffic across the bridge. I was not able to locate any photographs of the bridges heyday.

As the stand stone abutment, this area around the south end of Rock Point Road is virtually abandoned. Some brick buildings show signs they probably date back to the Reymann Brewery, and others were at one time or another prominent businesses of Wheeling.

I invite you to view some more photographs of the bridge on flickr:

what remains

standing on what's left on the bridge. it appears the folks on the opposite side of Big Wheeling Creek use the west end of the bridge abutment as part of their yard or patio.

no entry

Note: Thanks to Jim from Down the Road for some help with bridge terminology.

Broken Tiles

2008-12-16T15:25:00.000-08:00

From a Different Time
While walking through the streets of Wheeling you will notice the occasional shopper on a quick errand, lunch goers, and pedestrians. Because of shopping centers and strip malls, the average Wheeling resident rarely ventures downtown. Quite a few of the store fronts along Main Street and Market Street are either abandoned or for sale, and many are in need of restoration. While walking along a vacant lot where a Wheeling business once stood, I started noticing pieces of old brick, and happened to catch a glimpse of the section of tile you see photographed above. This tile was probably the entrance to a door way at one time. Another vacant lot near this one also revealed portions of its original tile, and the Welty building entrance tile was cracked in many places, but still in tact. While thinking about all the people who passed over those little bits of tile, it's sad to think about how today people pass by the remains of these buildings with out blinking an eye. There's so much life in those little tiles, and their days of being exposed appear to be numbered. Wheeling has taken action to tear down many of its buildings that are deemed as eye sores and "fire traps." Behind the vacant lot where I discovered the tile is one of those buildings that will probably be torn down in the near future. Broken windows, ivy, and graffiti currently define the structure, but at one time I can imagine this space as welcoming.

The National Bank of West Virginia

2008-12-15T11:00:00.000-08:00

"one of the finest in this part of the country" -1915
On June 4, 1915 the National Bank of West Virginia opened its doors at 9:00 to the public. Located on the corner of Main and 12th, the building that was once described as "one of the finest in this part of the country" is currently used by an A.M. radio station, but on June 4, 1915 it was the pride of Wheeling. Rising 144 feet, early articles described the building as "rich in decoration" and bragged of its perfect lighting conditions. The outside is of plain glazed terra cotta, and sits on a solid granite foundation. Located near the Ohio River, the building was deemed as flood and fire proof. I'm not quite sure how to describe the entrance - unique, elaborate? The floor of the banking room was organized in away that allowed for plenty of working space for cashiers, tellers, and customers. The main floor was decorated with russet and gold, and consisted of marble partitions, marble check desk, electric lights "suspended from beautiful bronze brackets, done in old gold," four large chandeliers (each holding 23 lights), soft Brussels rugs, and a mezzanine floor which allowed for a view of the main floor. On the second floor was the board of directors room, and the rest of the building was used for office space. Sixty seven offices in all, doors opening to the hall, and everything had a mahogany finish. The basement consisted of a customers room, dining room, kitchen, ladies restroom, storeroom, private work room, storage vaults, and toilets. Today I'm not sure how much of the original bank exist, but I do know that one of its occupants is a 1600 AM radio station. It appears that many of the buildings windows along the north end are boarded up, but otherwise, seems to be holding up. For a few months I had been trying to figure out the original purpose of this building that catches my eye every time I venture into downtown Wheeling. After looking through a postcard collection I finally put everything together.
To view a post card of this building please go to my flickr page. There you will also find a few more photographs showing some of the buildings detail.

Schmulbach Brewing Company - Advertising

2008-12-12T18:36:00.000-08:00

Drink "Golden Brew"
It's relatively easy to come by Schmulbach Brewing collectibles. The only problem is that the most common finds are bottles. While I have enjoyed bottle collecting, it's also been fun to discover some of the more rarer Schmulbach gems. For example, a Schmulbach door knob, or my latest find, this Schmulbach Brewing Co. match case. An Ebay buy, the advertising piece reminds us of the pre-prohibition brewing era, where small breweries were a common theme. Especially in hardworking (and hard drinking) industrial towns such as Wheeling, West Virgina. In 1881 Henry Schmulbach acquired a large share of stock in the Nail City Brewing company, and one year later he took over the company and transformed it into the Schmulbach Brewing Company. The brewery was located at the east end of Thirty-third street. By the spring of 1890, Schmulbach was brewing 50,000 barrels a year, and eventually that would be increased to 200,000 barrels a year.Schmulbach's bottles of brewed beer could be found in West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. So it's hard to tell exactly how many more Schmulbach advertising pieces are in existence. Although this was an Ebay purchase, and an exciting one at that, I would much rather find my Schmulbach memorabilia by coincidence, or being at the right place at the right time. Garage sales and flee markets are just more exciting. None the less, I'm glad to bring another piece of Wheeling back home.