Wheeling Wharf - Wheeling, West Virginia - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

Text of marker:

Wheeling Wharf

Front Door To The City On The Ohio River

The Wheeling Wharf played a crucial role in bring people and products to and from our growing city.  The port has seen the arrival of visitors such as Lafayette, Meriwether Lewis, Mark Twain, and thousands of steamboat passengers.  The port was also the debarkation point for La Belle cut nails, Marsh stogies, Mail Pouch tobacco and a host of other famous Wheeling products.  The Wheeling Wharf was the point around which the city grew and prospered.

 Transportation Crossroads

The Zane family chose this spot as the site for their village, in part, because it was the northernmost navigable point onf the Ohio River.  In 1816, the steamboat George Washington was built for Captain Henry M. Shreve, marking the beginning of a shipbuilding industry that by 1879 had completed 99 steamboats.  This area became a hub of transportation.  Steamboat passengers could disembark at the wharf and be within a few steps of the railroad depot and in walking distance to the National Road heading west across the great Suspension Bridge.

Heavy Traffic

The Wheeling Wharf was an important stop along the Ohio River freight routes.  At one time more cargo passed by Wheeling along the Ohio than any cargo that went through the Panama Canel.  By the mid-1800s, three million people traveled the Ohio River annually.  An account from the 1870s stated that one could regularly see fifty to seventy steamers leaving and passing the Wheeling Wharf.  An example of how powerful the Wheeling river trade had become was that by 1871 the total tonnage of ships to be taxed was 116 vessels aggregating over 12,000 tons, growing to 445 vessels aggregating 45,856 tons by 1878.  Today, Wheeling sees approximately 42,000,000 tons of cargo per year pass by Heritage Port, site of the former Wheeling Wharf.

Iron Rings

The iron rings embedded in the sandstone wall are relics from the era when steamboats used them to "tie-up" at the Port of Wheeling.  The advent of steam navigation on the Ohio River in 1811 marked the beginning of large scale immigration and industrialization in the Ohio Valley.  In recognition of this commercial activity, the United States government designated Wheeling as a Port of Delivery on March 2 1831.  At that time, the wharf stretched from 9th Street in North Wheeling to 23rd Street in Center Wheeling.

Group that erected the marker: Wheeling National Heritage Area Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: Waterfront Wheeling, West Virginia URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: Not listed

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