Crews remove the letters from the former Ohio Valley Medical Center building in September as part of ongoing demolition efforts. (File Photo)

WHEELING — The demolition of the former Ohio Valley Medical Center building, which began in January, has motivated those who used to learn and work within the hospital’s walls to preserve its history.

Crews from F.R. Beinke Wrecking Inc. of New Jersey began razing the OVMC buildings in January, beginning at the Northwood Health Systems building. The structure is one of seven on OVMC’s former campus that will be demolished to make the more than 800,000 square feet of vacant space inside the structures available.

Demolition continued through the rest of the year, including the major steps of the demolition of OVMC’s largest tower in July and the removal of the building’s OVGH, the Ohio Valley General Hospital letters, in September.

WVU Medicine is spearheading the demolition of the OVMC buildings, as the space will be used to construct a multimillion-dollar regional cancer center. The facility will employ about 500 people and see 40,000 patients each year.

As pieces of history have been removed from the inside and outside of the building by demolition crews, the OVGH History Group has taken up the task of preserving these artifacts. The group consists of former OVMC School of Nursing students and former OVMC employees. Two members, former OVMC nurse administrators Mary McKinley and Betty Jo Sproull, are leading the preservation project.

Sproull said the demolition contract for the building specified that the “cornerstones” of the building, including bricks, two time capsules and the letters, must be saved. The group is working with the city of Wheeling and the Ohio County Public Library to preserve and document these cornerstones and other artifacts from the OVMC buildings.

The group has distributed more than 400 bricks to those interested in receiving one.

The two time capsules from 1912 and 1980 were opened by former OVMC staff in late April during a ceremony organized by McKinley and Sproull. While some items in the time capsules were destroyed or damaged due to moisture and water getting into the 1980 time capsule, most items were intact. Items recovered from the time capsules, including a gavel, newspaper, OVMC shirt buttons, pictures and hospital pamphlets, are being preserved at the Ohio County Public Library.

In September, the “OVGH” letters floated via crane down from the OVMC building. Following their installation in 1953, the letters lit up the city for more than 70 years.

The OVGH History group has been working with the city of Wheeling to determine the future of the letters, which are now being held at the City of Wheeling’s Operation Center.

The removal of the building’s OVGH letters was a bittersweet moment for former employees. McKinley noted that the hospital was the “basis of education” for many medical personnel in the city, adding the place “really made a difference.”

OVGH History Group members want to capture the feeling of “home” the letters brought to residents, as their green glow was often the first thing to greet residents returning home to the city. McKinley said a possible future for the letters is to get them glowing again and putting them on permanent display in the Friendly City.