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Businesses Have Stood Test of Time

There’s a lot to be said for longevity in business.

The Wheeling area long has prided itself for housing family owned and operated businesses that have stood the test of time, evolving over more than a century to continue serving area residents. West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner last week traveled here to honor 23 such businesses that have called Wheeling home since the early 1900s.

Imagine the ups-and-downs these businesses have experienced over more than a century.

As Warner noted, they’ve lasted through two world wars, the Great Depression, the Great Recession, at least one global pandemic and periods of social unrest, not to mention the massive transition is how businesses operate during the technological age.

“That’s not something that should be taken lightly,” Warner said. “You guys have been here doing it over and over again. This is an impressive array of businesses and people who have done it for a century or more.”

The oldest continually operating business locally is The Linsly School, which opened in 1814.

“We will begin our 208th year in just a few weeks, actually — with students from approximately 30 countries and 10 or more states — but the vast majority of our students, our alumni and our faculty and staff are from right here in the Ohio Valley,” Justin Zimmerman, headmaster of The Linsly School, said. “We wouldn’t have gotten this far — that’s for sure — without community support. We’re really proud of our history and what we do for kids in the valley, and we hope to do it for another 100-200 years.”

Todd Clossin is president of Wheeling-based WesBanco Bank., which traces its founding to 1870 when it was opened as The German Bank.

“Thank you to the community and thank you to the employees,” Clossin said. “You’re the reason we are all here.”

Here’s to the 23 businesses in Wheeling that have stood the test of time, and wishing them continued success in the future.

– The Linsly School, Inc. (1814)

– West Liberty University (1837)

– Wheeling Hospital, Inc. (1850)

– Odd Fellows Hall Association (1865)

– WesBanco (1870)

– Hazlett Burt & Watson (1883)

– Elmhurst, The House of Friendship (1890)

– The Nutting Company, Inc. — Ogden Newspapers (1890)

– The Sisters of St. Joseph of Wheeling, Inc. (1892)

– Warwood Tool Co. (1892)

– Centre Foundry & Machine Co. (1902)

– St. Joseph Health Initiative, Inc. (1902)

– Goodwin Drug Company (1904)

– Danser Hardware & Supply Company (1905)

– American Electric Power — AEP (1906)

– Florence Crittenton Programs, Inc. (1911)

– The Tuberculosis Association of Ohio County (1911)

– Young Women’s Christian Association of Wheeling — YWCA (1911)

– Hoge-Davis Drug Co. (1913)

– Coleman’s Fish Market (1914)

– Society of Saint Vincent De Paul of Wheeling (1916)

– Polish American Patriot Club, Inc. (1919)

– The Home for Aged Men (1920)

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