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What Lies Beneath: Vaults Found at Future Business Site in Downtown Wheeling

Photo by Scott McCloskey A subterranean vault is exposed during demolition at the future site of the Health Plan headquarters in downtown Wheeling.

It appears the discovery of two subterranean vaults during the final stages of demolition on the future Health Plan site in downtown Wheeling won’t delay progress on the project.

Crew members with Edgco Inc. have uncovered two buried vaults where the insurance company’s headquarters will eventually stand. They reveal an additional tidbit of the city’s history, but City Manager Robert Herron said progress will persist.

Herron said both the city and Mills Group architects who designed the Health Plan project knew about the vaults’ existence, and there are no intentions to halt demolition. Wheeling Heritage historian Rebekah Karelis believes the vaults belonged to the Welty family, storing liquor for the family’s distribution business that operated during the mid- to late-1800s.

Herron said one of the vaults has already been torn down, and the other will soon follow.

James Vosvick of Archaeological Consultants of the Midwest Inc. was on site when the vaults were unearthed, and said he happened to stumble on the situation. He typically works under contract, yet has made some effort to document the find, he said.

Along with taking photographs, he’s been in touch with West Virginia’s State Historic Preservation Office in Charleston to inform the bureau of this find.

“I have recommended we be there to document it,” Vosvick said. “It’s not a matter of taking pictures of the things, but figuring out how they were constructed.”

Susan Pierce, director of the SHPO, said her office has been in contact with Mills Group architects Michael Mills and Victor Greco. She said she has been assured that someone is on site documenting the vaults before they are demolished, although she could not say who.

Herron said he is unaware of any such conversation related to documentation. He said the Mills Group has expressed concern about people visiting the site and taking photographs, however, “because it’s an active construction site.”

Vosvick declined to elaborate on the conversation surrounding the find due to the number of people involved. He said he wasn’t interested in “getting caught up in it,” but said he just wants to preserve the history.

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