Trending
WHEELING – Of the 55 students who graduated from The Linsly School in 1990, Wheeling Mayor-elect Glenn Elliott believes he is one of only four living in the Friendly City today, as he said most left for college and never returned.
Therefore, new U.S. Census Bureau estimates indicating that Wheeling’s population dropped by 838 residents from 2010 to 2015 did not come as much of a surprise to Elliott. An estimated 27,648 people inhabited Wheeling as of July 1, down from 28,486 in 2010.
Wheeling is not alone, however, as municipalities from Steubenville to Sistersville, and from New Martinsville to St. Clairsville, continue losing population. Years of economic trouble related to the decline of the steel, aluminum, glass, coal and other industries have resulted in younger people leaving the Upper Ohio Valley to seek opportunity.
Elliott pledged to do as much as he can during his term in office to help create new career opportunities in Wheeling. However, he said this is only one aspect of reversing decades of population loss in the city, which claimed 61,099 residents at its peak in 1940.
“We need to focus on making Wheeling a place young people want to be,” Elliott said. “This is, quite frankly, a terrible city to live in if you don’t have a car. A lot of young people today want to live in an urban setting where they can walk or ride a bicycle for all their day-to-day needs. It is basically impossible to do that here now.”
Elliott will take office July 1 with five new city council members.
“Vibrant downtowns today design their traffic patterns with the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists in mind. This is clearly not the case here now,” Elliott said. “I would like to see Main and Market streets become two-way streets. You want people to drive to your downtown – not through your downtown.”
Although Elliott is mindful of the needs of young people, he said some older residents may also like the convenience of living in an updated urban setting.
“We don’t want to keep losing our seniors to Florida and North Carolina,” he said.
Elliott said many voters with whom he spoke on the campaign trail asked him to help revitalize Wheeling so their children or grandchildren might be able to return.
“It’s not going to happen overnight or with just a couple of meetings,” he acknowledged. “But I believe (the incoming) council is committed to doing all we can to take advantage of the opportunities we have.”
In Moundsville, Mayor Gene Saunders was surprised by the census data showing the city fell from 9,318 residents in 2010 to 8,710 last year.
“That doesn’t sound right to me. I don’t want to speculate what it might be,” Saunders said of the population. “Unfortunately, we cannot count the gas and oil people who are living in our town because they are not technically residents here.”
Similar to Wheeling, Moundsville has already lost much of the population it had with an all-time high of 15,163 residents in 1960. Saunders knows that as the city loses residents, it will also lose government funding.
“We are naturally going to lose tax base on something like that,” he said.
For West Virginia as a whole, census data show it lost more than 4,600 residents from 2014 to 2015. Expecting the pattern to continue, Election Data Services projects the state to lose one of its U.S. House of Representatives seats, now held by Republicans David McKinley, Alex Mooney and Evan Jenkins, via reapportionment after the 2020 Census.
Despite the population drop, Wheeling remains the Mountain State’s fifth-largest municipality. Morgantown, home to West Virginia University, continues surging as the state’s fourth-largest city, now home to 30,708 residents. Morgantown is approaching third place, as Parkersburg’s population dipped to 30,991, according to 2015 estimates.
Huntington is still the second-largest West Virginia city with 48,638 residents. The capital city of Charleston remains the state’s largest municipality, although its population dipped to 49,736 – leaving West Virginia without a city of 50,000 or more.
On the west side of the Ohio River, officials in the Buckeye State remain optimistic that PTT Global Chemical America will build its multibillion-dollar ethane cracker at Dilles Bottom, as they believe this will create jobs to rebuild the population.
Steubenville remains the largest Ohio city in the Upper Ohio Valley with 18,219 residents, reflecting a decline of 440 since 2010. Data show Toronto will likely lose its status as a city after the 2020 census, as it is below the 5,000-person threshold with 4,882 residents, according to 2015 estimates.
Cadiz is by far the largest municipality in Harrison County with 3,271 residents, while Woodsfield claims the top spot in Monroe County with 2,348 inhabitants.
Martins Ferry leads the way in Belmont County with 6,786 residents, while 5,105 people live in St. Clairsville. Bellaire’s population fell to 4,189 residents, with Barnesville serving as home to 4,125.
Columbus continues expanding its lead as Ohio’s largest city, as 850,106 residents now live in the capital city. Cleveland features 388,072 residents, while 298,550 people live in Cincinnati.