1600Infrastructure
WVLY 1370 AM and WKKX 1600 AM provide local news, sports, and talk.
1749History
=== European settlement ===
Originally explored by the French, Wheeling still has a lead plate remnant that the explorer Céloron de Blainville buried in 1749 at the mouth of Whe...
1751History
Later, Christopher Gist and George Washington surveyed the land, in 1751 and 1770, respectively.
1769Government
Wheeling was settled in 1769 on land contested between the Province of Pennsylvania and Colony of Virginia, and later grew to become Virginia's largest city west of the Appalach...
1774Military
=== Fort Henry ===
Originally dubbed Fort Fincastle in 1774, the fort was later renamed Fort Henry in honor of Virginia's American governor, Patrick Henry.
1777History
In 1777, Native Americans of the Shawnee, Wyandot, and Mingo tribes joined to attack pioneer settlements along the upper Ohio River, which were illegal according to the Crown's ...
1782Military
In 1782, a native army along with British soldiers attempted to take Fort Henry.
1787Infrastructure
In 1787, the United States gave Virginia this portion of lands west of the Appalachians, and some to Pennsylvania at its western edge, to settle their claims.
1793Government
In 1793, Ebenezer Zane divided the town into lots, and Wheeling was officially established as a town in 1795 by legislative enactment.
1797History
By an act of the Virginia General Assembly on December 27, 1797, Wheeling was named the county seat of Ohio County.
1798Architecture
The oldest building in the area is Shepherd Hall (Monument Place), built in 1798.
1805Government
The town was incorporated on January 16, 1805.
1818History
=== Early 19th century ===
The National Road arrived in Wheeling in 1818, linking the Ohio River to the Potomac River, and allowing goods from the Ohio Valley to flow through W...
1836Civil Rights
On March 11, 1836, the town of Wheeling was incorporated into the city of Wheeling.
1848History
The growing German population, which included immigrants after the 1848 Revolutions, was firmly anti-slavery.
1849Architecture
In 1849 the Wheeling Suspension Bridge crossed the Ohio River and allowed the city to expand onto Wheeling Island.
1853Infrastructure
Rail transportation reached Wheeling in 1853 when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad connected Wheeling to Pennsylvania, Maryland, and markets in the Northeast.
1855History
The Germans' culture influenced the city, such as their "German Singing Societies", the first of which began in 1855.
1860History
The city's earliest union was the United Nailers (1860, which later merged into the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers), followed by the cigar makers in 1862.
1861Government
Wheeling was the state capital of West Virginia from 1861 to 1870, and again from 1875 to 1885.
1865Government
=== Late 19th century ===
Although Wheeling lost its position as state capital in 1865, it continued to grow.
1866Education
In 1866, Lincoln School opened in Wheeling to serve African American students.
1877Culture
The 1877 railroad strike at Martinsburg, West Virginia, reached Wheeling and spread nationwide.
1885Economy
One early nickname (until an 1885 strike) was "Nail City", reflecting the iron manufacture in several mills, which dated from the 1840s.
1897History
In 1897, Eugene Debs, Mother Jones, and Samuel Gompers were among the speakers at a national labor convention in Wheeling to discuss a nationwide coal strike.
1899Economy
Morgan and other investors to sell National Tube Company, which had been created in 1899, six years after local owners had consolidated five plants in the area as Wheeling Steel...
1904Culture
=== 20th century to present ===
In 1904, Wheeling became the first city in the country to refuse a proposed Andrew Carnegie gift of a free library, because of the industrialist'...
1913Government
Bloch, who would in 1913 introduce legislation that became the state's Workmen's Compensation Act), and later steel concerns after development of the Bessemer process.
1920History
Wheeling Steel Corporation was created in 1920 and grew after a 1927 strike caused J.
1928Architecture
Opened in 1928, The Capitol was home to It's Wheeling Steel, a popular radio program in the early 1940s featuring musical performances by workers at a local steel plant.
1933Culture
The 700-seat Victorian-style theater was home to the WWVA Jamboree program from 1933 to 1936.
1943Infrastructure
Wheeling operated streetcars from the 1880s until 1943 under the Wheeling Traction Company and Co-operative Transit Company.
1954Civil Rights
A new building for Lincoln High School opened in the early 1940s; the school closed with desegregation in 1954.
1976History
Wheeling's Gambling History to 1976.
1986Military
The first official memorial monument in the state of West Virginia dedicated specifically to men killed in the Vietnam War was dedicated in Wheeling, with full military honors, ...
1997History
Wheeling: Nail City Publishing, 1997.
2000History
=== 2000 census ===
As of the census of 2000, 31,419 people, 13,719 households, and 7,806 families resided in the city.
2003History
Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2003.
2007Government
Ohio County held a special election on June 9, 2007, to approve the legalization of table games.
2009Culture
More recently, it has been the site for the "Wheeling Jamboree", a local initiative started in 2009 and modeled after the original WWVA Jamboree (which changed its name in the 1...
2010History
The median income for a household in the city was $43,483 and the poverty rate was 16.5%
=== 2010 census ===
As of the census of 2010, there were 28,486 people, 12,816 househo...
2013Education
Wheeling is also home of the Mountain East Conference basketball championship tournament, an NCAA Division II conference that launched in the 2013–14 school year.
2018History
=== City flag ===
The current flag for the city was adopted on September 4, 2018, in conjunction with the celebration of the city's 250th anniversary the following year.
2019History
Fones-Wolf, Ken, "'Traitors in Wheeling': Secessionism in an Appalachian Unionist City" Archived December 6, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, Journal of Appalachian Studies, 13 (Sp...
2020History
The Wheeling metropolitan area had 139,513 residents in 2020.
2024Government
City elections were held on May 14, 2024, and the current term began on July 1, 2024.
2028Government
City elections will be held again on May 14, 2028.