Jeanne Finstein, president of the group, said Thursday the Friends were given 722-724 Main St. in historic North Wheeling.

“It was donated to us and the prior owner gutted the inside. There’s no second floor; there are braces holding it up on the outside,” she said, adding the prior owner wished to remain anonymous.

Finstein said the group has not taken on a restoration project in several years, but decided to take ownership of the buildings because of their historical significance.

The Friends have already received $84,000 in donations for the project, along with a $22,000 facade renovation grant from the city of Wheeling. Finstein said the group does not yet know how much a full renovation would cost. She noted the group may do a partial renovation and then sell the building to a developer willing to finish it.

photo by: Photo by Shelley Hanson

The Friends of Wheeling recently was given 722-724 Main St. in historic North Wheeling and plans to rehabilitate the structures. Brad Anderson, an employee with Cattrell Co. of Wheeling, can be seen using a torch to cut apart steel bracing used on the exterior of 722-724 Main St. on Thursday. Steel bracing is being removed from the outside and will be placed on the inside instead. This will allow the sidewalk in front of the building and alleyway beside to reopen.

“We have not rehabbed a building for years and years. This is kind of a newly revised venture for us,” she said. “The goal is ideally to sell both halves, as two housing units, although there is a common wall.”

She said the Friends’ board recently voted to spend up to $150,000 and then reassess the situation. The group is not in the business of flipping properties for a profit, but preserving the integrity of historic places in the city.

“We’re in it to save our heritage,” she said.

According to Finstein, the lot that contains 722 and 724 Main St. were purchased by Thomas Hughes Sr. in 1846 for $600.

“We believe the houses were built shortly after that. Thomas Hughes (1789-1849) was a gunsmith and was also involved in steam boating and lumbering,” Finstein wrote in a letter to donors. “He was the first treasurer of the city of Wheeling, served on City Council for 32 years, and was involved in several other companies and organizations, including the Wheeling & Belmont Bridge Company, (which completed the Wheeling Suspension Bridge shortly after Hughes’ death).

photo by: Photo by Shelley Hanson

Shown here is the inside of one of the Main Street structures given to the Friends of Wheeling.

“His son, John Hughes (1818-70), was also a long-time member of Wheeling City Council. He and his family lived in 724 Main St.

“John Hughes was involved in a ‘planing’ business as early as 1851. By 1864, he had the John Hughes & Company business that dealt in ‘lumber, moulding, doors, sash, etc.’ located at Market and Washington Streets (now known as Market and 7th Streets).

John Hughes was later listed in city directories as a ‘collector’ for his brother Thomas’s tailoring business, Feinstein wrote. He died of typhoid fever, age 52, on March 22, 1870, just over two months after the death of his daughter, 4½ year-old Bessie, who died of scarlet fever on January 6, 1870. John’s widow, Eliza Sterritt McLain, remained in the home until her death in 1914.

“It is unclear who originally lived in 722 Main,” Feinstein wrote. “However, when Thomas Hughes’ widow died in 1872, 722 Main was sold to ‘whitewasher’ Anton Baiker.”

Hughes’s sons, Alfred and Thomas Jr. and their sister Eliza Hughes, “were staunch supporters of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Eliza was the first female in what is now West Virginia to become a licensed physician,” Finstein wrote.

She noted the city of Wheeling had placed a raze or repair order on the structures because of their poor condition.

“However, the City, Wheeling Heritage, Friends of Wheeling, and the Victorian Old Town Association saved both structures from demolition, replaced lost bricks between 722 and 724, installed a new roof, and did some other exterior repairs,” she wrote.

“Both buildings were then sold to a private developer. That developer removed so much of the interior structure that exterior bracing had to be installed to prevent collapse. He then gave up on renovation plans and donated both buildings to Friends of Wheeling in January 2022.

“These buildings are important as contributing structures in the North Wheeling National Historic District and because of their histories. Their loss would probably lead to the loss of the connected building to the north (720 Main), leaving a huge hole in the east side of this important block. And their loss would mean the loss of an interesting piece of Wheeling’s history.”

Finstein said Thursday that the steel bracing on the outside will be moved to the inside. The building must be stabilized before any major rehabilitation work can be done. Demolition on some add-on structures on the back of the building is underway.