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Wheeling Park Gears Up for Its 100th Birthday

photo by: Emma Delk

Local children have been enjoying the features and play elements at the Wheeling Park Playground's new play system since the space opened on Memorial Day weekend.

WHEELING — It was 100 years ago today that dozens of the most influential residents in Wheeling came together to give the city what is now known as Wheeling Park.

By the evening of Christmas Eve in 1924, more than 170 pledges from individuals and groups in the city were enough to purchase 130 acres of land from Charles Sonneborn and Louis Haller, create a nonpartisan park commission and start the chain of events that led to a Memorial Day 1925 opening of Wheeling Park.

There have been a lot of positive changes to Wheeling Park in the years since. Attractions have been added. Longtime favorites have been renovated. And officials aren’t about to stop Wheeling Park’s growth now.

“In my role here, I am very cognizant every moment of every day of both what we’re stewarding and how we take that energy and drive that forward into the future,” said Eriks Janelsins, president and CEO of the Oglebay Foundation, which builds philanthropic support for Oglebay and Wheeling Park. “It’s not with an eye looking back. It’s how we take those same principles moving forward to make these parks bigger and better every day.”

Before that momentous Christmas Eve 100 years ago, according to the Oglebay website, Wheeling Park had been a private amusement park owned and operated by the Reymann Brewing Company.

Yet World War I and Prohibition led to the park closing and falling into disrepair. City leaders tried and failed to purchase the park in 1923, but that movement was revived a year later.

Haller and Sonneborn had bought the property with the intent of subdividing it, but told city leaders they would sell it if $350,000 — more than $6.4 million in today’s dollar — was raised to equip the park and a nonpartisan commission was created to run it.

Prominent businessman W.E. Stone got the ball rolling with a $100,000 pledge and another large pledge came soon after from Earl Oglebay. By the evening of Dec. 24, 1924, the goal was reached following more than 170 pledges. The transfer of the property came in April 1925 and the park opened on Memorial Day of that year.

Janelsins said that moment was a signature one for Wheeling that mirrored many other signature moments around it. Like National Road and the B&O Railroad coming through the Friendly City before that and the birth of the Wheeling Symphony and Oglebay Park after that, Wheeling Park’s creation was an example of the spirit of the city and its people.

“Those are all moments where Wheeling citizens weren’t sitting back and waiting for state government or federal government to do something,” he said. “People in this town made things happen. And I think the parks are a big outcome from that independent spirit.”

In the years since opening, Wheeling Park had become a hub of activity in the city. The park’s public pool often is packed in the summer months. The White Palace has played host to countless proms, dances, receptions and award banquets. The park houses one of the region’s few public ice rinks and is an epicenter for golf and tennis.

The park, however, has not stopped evolving. The Wheeling Park Commission recently finished a full renovation of the White Palace, giving its ballroom an all-new look and creating the 1925 Cafe. The pool will soon add a children’s splash zone. The park also houses the state’s most inclusive playground, with features that allow children of all ability levels to have fun.

There will be plenty of opportunities in 2025 for Wheeling to celebrate the park’s centennial. There will be a February ice skating spectacular, an April 12 community garden launch and May 1 “Roaring ’20s Night.” The biggest celebration comes May 29-June 1 with a May 29 Centennial Street Dinner, an enhanced Friday Fun Fest on May 30, and a wide range of activities including a community picnic, dog show and golf scramble on Saturday, May 31 and Sunday, June 1.

Janelsins said those events will be a great way to honor the spirit of the city and its willingness to come together to create great things — and perhaps germinate the seeds of future great ideas.

“The best part about Wheeling is you can kind of throw out some crazy ideas and the community responds in such a positive way,” he said. “People start showing up and they invite friends, and I think the community is hungry for opportunities to gather and celebrate together.”

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