Editor, News-Register:

As our community focuses on the conclusion of the Streetscaping Project, we should not forget some of the people that invested their time, personal funds and passion in preserving our historic culture of Wheeling. Without their involvement Wheeling’s historic landscape would certainly not be interesting as it is today.

Yes, government officials provided some of the funds for various projects, but the efforts of three local women stand out.

Betty “Snookie” Nutting invested personally in preserving numerous buildings throughout the downtown. Her grasp of architectural heritage was crucial in restoring 22 key structures and getting Federal Historic Designations for key blocks of Wheeling, thereby enabling tax credits to be used by building owners in restoring their aging structures. Consider what the magnificent row houses along Chapline Street in Centre Wheeling would look like without having been preserved.

Beverly Fluty worked tirelessly in the 1970s as she the leader in transforming the deteriorating building housing the downtown state liquor store and an upstairs bowling alley on Market Street back to its original configuration as the West Virginia Independence Hall. Beverly also was instrumental in salvaging the long-overlooked Wheeling Suspension Bridge and helped to secure the funding necessary for its restoration in the early 80s.

And Frances “Pinky” Williams quietly, personally funded the rejuvenation of various historic structures in Old Town Wheeling along North Main Street as well as other projects throughout our city. She was active with Friends of Wheeling and Wheeling Heritage which oversees preservation in the city’s 14 nationally recognized historic districs.

So as we celebrate the final stages of the streetscaping projects, hopefully we don’t overlook the decades of public service of these three women. They had a passion for preserving Wheeling’s legacy of a rich historical heritage and they set the stage for preserving what we hold dear today.in our river city. They made things happen.

David B. McKinley

Wheeling