Bloch Legacy Continues
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WHEELING -- The names stamped in concrete on many downtown Wheeling buildings are part of the city's early history as a thriving industrial hub for the glass, steel, tobacco and other companies and the families that ran them.
The names are familiar to anyone who has read this newspaper or stepped into the Wheeling Room at the Ohio County Public Library.
The old Wheeling families of Reymann, Schmulbach, Glass, Stifel, Stone and Bloch are just some of the prominent people who made their mark on the city, leaving it on solid ground for future generations.
With the death of Stuart Bloch last week, the city lost yet another member of that family whose legacy will live on through their philanthropic endeavors. It was Samuel S. Bloch, Stuart's great-grandfather, and Aaron Bloch, his great-uncle, who founded Bloch Brothers Tobacco. Their Mail Pouch tobacco product, engineered from scraps of tobacco from their cigar and stogie making and stuffed into a paper package, became a nationally-sought-after chewing tobacco.
Mail Pouch tobacco, with its well-known slogan, "Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco, Treat Yourself to the Best," also spawned a barn painting trend with the popular Mail Pouch logo showing up across the country. Its memorabilia remains popular today with collectors.
Mail Pouch made Bloch Brothers the largest manufacturer of chewing tobacco in the United States and remains a top manufacturer of the product.
The Bloch family shared its prosperity with the Wheeling community in many ways. In 1929, Samuel and his wife, Bertha, donated $20,000 to Ohio Valley General Hospital -- now Ohio Valley Medical Center -- in Wheeling for the development of a pediatric center at the hospital. Later, the Bloch children gave $250,000 to construct the nurses' residence at OVMC.
Samuel S. Bloch was a founder of the Highland Golf Club, now known as the Wheeling Country Club.
In 1940, the Bloch family home at 1228 National Road in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood of Wheeling, was donated to the Home for Aged Women. The mansion, known today as Elmhurst: The House of Friendship, underwent renovations and the addition of a wing.
Another major remodel was completed in 1989 and another four-story wing was added in 2009. Today, the facility maintains the charm of its original splendor with modern comforts and amenities for the residents -- both men and women -- who live there.
Jamie Crow, executive director at Elmhurst, said the Bloch family's generosity not only allowed the beautiful building to remain intact, but has served as a wonderful residence for many area women and men.
"Many were indebted to the generosity of the Bloch family who gave us the Bloch Mansion, which we call Elmhurst. They have allowed us to continue to work with seniors in our community. … We will always be grateful for what they gave."
Crow said in 2015, Stuart and Stephanie Bloch attended the "Evening Under the Elms" celebration and were on hand as an elm tree was planted in the family's honor. In the 1800s, the Bloch Mansion property was covered in elm trees that later fell victim to disease. The mansion was built in the late 1800s.