Wheeling, city, seat of Ohio County, and also in Marshall County, in the northern panhandle of West Virginia, on the Ohio River; settled 1769, incorporated as a city 1836. One of the largest cities in the state, it is an important manufacturing and commercial center. Coal has been mined here since the late 18th century, and the large iron and steel industry dates from 1832; other products include chemicals, glass, aluminum, machine tools, plastics, clothing, packed meats, and tobacco. Wheeling College (1954) and a community college are here. Oglebay Park is a center of recreational and cultural activities and includes the Oglebay Institute Mansion Museum (1835).
Fort Henry, built here as Fort Fincastle and renamed soon thereafter for the American statesman Patrick Henry, was the scene of one of the last skirmishes (1782) of the American Revolution. Wheeling became the western terminus of the Cumberland Road in 1818 and grew with the overland and river traffic. The railroad arrived in 1852. The Wheeling Conventions, held in 1861 and 1862, led to the formation of West Virginia. The city served as capital of the state from 1863 to 1870 and again from 1875 to 1885. Its name may have been derived from a Delaware term for “place of the head,” thought to be a reference to a murdered settler's severed head. Population 43,070 (1980); 34,882 (1990); 32,541 (1998 estimate).
