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Interpreted carefully, history can help us make the best of the future. So, what can Wheeling's first 250 years as a community teach us?
A variety of events focusing on the city's first quarter-millenium have taken place this year, with more to come. A 40-page magazine inside today's newspaper, "Wheeling: Celebrating 250 Years," is our contribution to the celebration.
In pictures and stories, it outlines our history as a community and an integral part of the Ohio Valley. We invite you to take a look at the magazine and reflect on what it tells us about our area's past and, quite possibly, the future.
Wheeling and other communities in our area prospered in the beginning because of where we are. For a few decades in the late 1700s and early 1800s, Wheeling was the gateway to the West. Many of those who settled the new nation west of the Ohio River passed through Wheeling. We also were a passage to the southern states, through the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
Our location, then, proved the foundation for growth and prosperity.
In later years, location was critical, too. The river was a key transportation artery, as were the railroads built beside it.
Rich deposits of coal also helped fuel progress and construction of the steel mills that provided tens of thousands of good jobs for many years.
Finally, in part because of good works by some of those who made fortunes here, the quality of life in Wheeling has been good. Our parks, education facilities and cultural life surpass those in many substantially larger cities.
Our history has been much more complex than the outline above, of course. But clearly, location and quality of life have played major roles in the history of Wheeling and other Ohio Valley communities.
Things have changed dramatically during the past half-century, of course. But location and quality of life will be important in the future, too.
Our river remains important for both industry and recreation. Our access to enormous reserves of natural gas make the potential for new industries very real. Our quality of life -- sum it up as small town values with some larger-city opportunities -- can be attractive in the future.
The bottom line is that some of the very qualities that built Wheeling and the Ohio Valley can contribute to a bright future for those who live here -- and those who move to our area. Our first 250 years were good. The next may be even better.