Wheeling Park High School Celebrates 50 Years
Those Integral To Its Beginnings Reflect On Its Creation, Applaud Its Progress
Trending
Frank Blake watched the steel beams of what would become Wheeling Park High School go up more than five decades ago. The sheer size alone was something he could barely believe.
"It was just mind-boggling," he said.
But there was so much more yet to come.
Fifty years ago, 2,250 students called a new 272,540-square foot building on 63 acres of land their new educational home. Three established high schools in Ohio County merged under one roof. Those thousands of students would soon grow comfortable in their new surroundings and, through 50 years, Wheeling Park would become one of West Virginia's premier high schools.
The Need For Something New
The seeds of school consolidation were planted well before Wheeling Park High opened its doors. There had been discussions of combining Wheeling, Warwood and Triadelphia high schools, along with McKinley Trade and Vocational School since the 1950s, Blake said. While those discussions were happening, county school districts bordering Ohio County already were making that jump. Moundsville, Union and Sherrard high schools consolidated into John Marshall High School in 1968. Wellsburg, Follansbee and Bethany high schools consolidated into Brooke High School in 1969.
Meanwhile, the student bodies at Wheeling, Warwood and Triadelphia were bursting at the seams in their homes at the time.
"At Warwood, Triadelphia and Wheeling, we couldn't house our study halls," said Blake, who was principal of Warwood High before becoming assistant principal at WPHS. "Our sophomores, juniors and seniors, if they had study hall, we released them into the community."
The schools' sports teams had it no better, fanning out around Ohio County to find places to practice and play. Triadelphia High played its basketball games at Bridge Street Junior High's gym. Wheeling High did the same thing at Madison, and would conduct practices between Clay, Ritchie and Madison schools. And everyone shared Wheeling Island Stadium - Wheeling, Warwood and Triadelphia, along with Wheeling Central, Linsly and the Wheeling Ironmen.
With all that use, "there wasn't a blade of grass from end zone to end zone," Blake said.
So, in 1972, the Ohio County Board of Education put together a citizens advisory committee to study and recommend a comprehensive plan to improve public school facilities throughout the district. Part of the plan included consolidating the high schools. There was early debate as to whether the county should end up with one or two high schools, but it ultimately decided on one.
Then came the need to fund those improvements, which would need a bond referendum. It wasn't the first time this had been attempted in Ohio County, Blake said, but the school district had something on its side which would make the difference this time - Superintendent Henry Marockie.
Building A New High School
Where Marockie helped, Blake said, was stability. A West Liberty State College graduate, he became Ohio County Schools superintendent in 1972. Before Marockie took the job, Blake said it had been a revolving door. Marockie would stay there 17 years before becoming West Virginia's Superintendent of Schools.
Marockie's wife, Mary Marockie, remembers those days when her husband had to head into the community and drum up support for the bond referendum. She said his reputation made it an easy sell.
"He had a tremendous rapport with the public," Mary Marockie, the former curriculum and research director and interim director of RESA 6, said. "He had so many friends, and I think that played a factor in passing it.
"He had to do some (convincing), but he had so many friends," she continued. "And I think they supported him because they knew him. They knew his background ... and they just supported it."
On June 6, 1973, Ohio County voters passed the bond referendum with more than 68% of the vote, greenlighting $14.2 million in bonds. State and federal dollars bumped it up to $21.3 million in funds. Of the $11 million - more than $68 million in 2026 dollars - would go to building Wheeling Park High School.
Construction began on the school in February 1975, and Blake was tasked with overseeing the project for the school district. He worked directly with contractor McAnallen Brothers on building the school. Construction wasn't without its hurdles, Blake said.
Blake remembers when crews were installing the footers for the vocational shops on the school's south end, when they told him they had hit solid rock. Instead of digging, workers had to turn to jackhammers and explosives.
"We knew one thing," Blake said. "That part of the building was never going to settle."
The district didn't just have to build the school, it also had to build the road to get to it. The road from Wheeling Park to Wheeling Park High didn't exist. For it to become reality, Henry Marockie had to convince then-Gov. Arch Moore to provide the funding. Mary Marockie said their already strong relationship worked in the district's favor.
"He knew the governor personally," Mary Marockie said, "because Gov. Moore was from this area. He visited him twice and convinced him it was a good project, and Gov. Moore supported it.
"That's not easy to do," she added, "but he did it."
A New Era Of Education
The sophomores, juniors and seniors of Ohio County were welcomed to Wheeling Park High School beginning September 7, 1976. Orientation was gradual. Seniors alone attended the first day, juniors alone the second and sophomores alone the third before everyone walked the halls at the same time on the fourth day.
Quickly, those students learned the benefits of one central high school for Ohio County - and new, wide variety of class choices at their disposal, choices they couldn't enjoy at their former high schools because the funds and the faculty just weren't there.
"It offered different courses and different opportunities for the students," Mary Marockie said. "We would have very extensive departments and students from all over the county associating with each other, which is a really important factor. It was an excellent curriculum. They hired wonderful teachers and worked toward high accomplishments and high achievement."
They also realized quickly just how big Wheeling Park High School was, welcoming 2,250 students the first year. Henry Marockie came to the WPHS administration with a new mission - make a huge school feel smaller for the students, so they wouldn't be overwhelmed.
Most the work fell to principal Samuel DeFillippo and assistant principals Blake and Phyllis Beneke. The three had made a pact with each other promising whoever would be named head principal, the other two would join them as assistants.
Beneke devised the color-coding system for the classrooms still found on the school's walls today. Each section of the building was given its own color, so even if a student didn't know exactly where they were going, finding the color would put them in the vicinity.
Blake came up with a "school within a school" concept. Assistant principals would each be assigned a grade level and would stay with those students throughout their WPHS careers. Those principals handled discipline, attendance and more for those grade levels. The students would also keep the same homeroom teacher and guidance counselors during their time there.
"Our constant mission was to break up something big and make it small," Blake said.
It was a massive undertaking, bringing every high school student in Ohio County under one roof, but it was a successful one.
"I remember at the end of that fourth day," Blake said, "I was sitting there with Ms. Beneke and Mr. DeFillippo and Ms. Beneke said, 'We did it. We made it work.'"
No Time For Resting
And it has worked for 50 years since those first days. As time marched on, Wheeling Park High School, its staff and the school district never rested on its laurels. The school has continued to evolve. A natatorium was built there shortly after opening. The ribbon was cut on the massive J.B. Chambers Performing Arts Center, used by the entire school district, in 2011. The main entrance was renovated in 2022. The media center on the top floor was remade into the school's Innovative Learning Center in 2023, complete with maker spaces and 3D printers.
"The innovation that has been brought to our building is the wave of the future for our students," said current WPHS Principal Meredith Dailer, "being super creative and collaborative in the work that they do. It's an exciting time to be at Wheeling Park High School, for sure."
The school's evolution isn't about to stop, Dailer added. They want to reimagine career technical education for Park's students, adding courses in cybersecurity, building automation, aeronautics and medical education. Those are community needs, Dailer said, and she wants Wheeling Park High to be able to meet them.
"I have a saying, 'Start with yes,'" she said. "If someone's coming to us with a need, that's really where you need to start. You need to vet it from a positive, proactive outlook and move forward from there.
"Tackle the problems, find the solutions," she added. "If it's good for the kids, then we're going to try to make it happen."
That belief has been part of Wheeling Park High School's DNA since before it was built, when the board of education first took on the task of improving high school education in Ohio County and building the school 50 years ago. That's led to numerous successes, from National Merit Scholars, to loads of sports championships, to a speech and debate team seeking its 47th straight state title, to a robotics program that already is gaining national renown.
It's a point of pride for many in Ohio County, including Blake. He was there when the first steel beams went up, and now, at age 85, he has been able to see five decades of success within those walls.
"When I walk on campus now, I look at it and I say, 'Oh my goodness, we did this,'" he said. "You look at the opportunities the students that went to Park have had and where they're at in the world today. They're all over the United States and some of them are in foreign countries.
"What they did and what they achieved," he added, "has all been possible through this school."