photo by: Derek Redd

Retired nurses Mary McKinley, left, and Betty Jo Sproull stand with a rendering of a new tower that will display the lighted “OVGH” letters from the former Ohio Valley General Hospital at the future Robrecht Park in Wheeling.

WHEELING — Last year, the “OVGH” letters that adorned the Ohio Valley General Hospital tower for decades came down. They will soon rise again.

A new tower — built specifically to display those letters — will be constructed for the future Robrecht Park in Wheeling. Those who hold the history of OVGH and Ohio Valley Medical Center dear are ecstatic that new generations will get to see that piece of history.

The new tower, designed by architect and historic preservationist Christina Schessler of McKinley Architecture and Engineering, will stand near Heritage Trail in the new park. She said it was very important for her to incorporate a tower design into the new display.

“When I moved here, one of the first things I noticed was the tower at the hospital,” she said. “It had quite an image over the whole city. So it was important, I think, to recreate that. It had a presence.”

The panels of the tower will be constructed in such a way that, at night, the tower structure will fade into the darkness, allowing the letters to stand out.

Mary McKinley and Betty Jo Sproull, both retired nurses who met at the OVGH nursing school and worked at the hospital for years, were there watching the day the letters came down. The entire hospital was demolished to make way for the future WVU Cancer Institute St. Joseph Regional Cancer Complex.

As sad as they were to see the letters come down, they were even more determined to see the hospital’s history remain a part of Wheeling.

“From the beginning, our mission was always to preserve and honor the history of OV,” Sproull said. “That hospital made a difference, not only to the people in this area, but the employees, patients that were born there and that died there, and the physicians and the staff.”

When OVMC shut its doors in 2019, McKinley and Sproull said the staff was told at 3 p.m. that they weren’t to come back the next day. That abrupt end robbed that staff of closure, Sproull said.

Yet, this new tower isn’t necessarily closure. It creates a lasting legacy that will be around for years to come.

“This place made a difference,” McKinley said. “And now there is recognition of that difference that will be standing as a permanent recognition. So we’re very proud of it.”

Both McKinley and Sproull thanked the City of Wheeling for the care that they have taken in handling those letters. They were gingerly removed from the tower, stored in city buildings for safe keeping, then transported to Wheeling Park High School, where machine tool technology students have been restoring the letters to be ready for display.

Wheeling Mayor Denny Magruder credited City Manager Robert Herron and City Operations Superintendent Steve Johnston for that care. Everybody in the city involved in the process has full understanding of those letters’ importance, Magruder said.

“It’s part of the fabric of Wheeling history,” he said. “For a hundred years, it provided excellent healthcare and was a community in and of itself. It’s really special and it’s fitting that we honor them.”