Welcome to Wheeling!

COME LOOK AT US NOW!

From the region's largest trail system, to national schools of excellence, to a reorg suspbrdg.jpg (4444 bytes)

anized municipal government, the City of Wheeling offers dynamic excitement for you, your family and your business.

Wheeling and Ohio County offer nationally superior public, parochial and private elementary and secondary schools. Wheeling Jesuit University provides an outstanding curriculum in addition to extracurricular activities. WJU is the home of the National Technology Transfer Center and NASA's premier Challenger Learning Center. West Liberty State College and West Virginia Northern Community College round out our excellent higher educational institutions.

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Looking for recreational opportunity? Oglebay Park and Resort Center remains the nation's model municipal park and continues to offer outstanding recreational opportunity to both residents and visitors. Its Festival of Lights attracts a million visitors annually. Its growing flower displays will soon surpass the Festival of Lights. Swimming, tennis, horseback riding, picnicking, hiking, skiing and fishing will augment your visits to the museums, shops, conference and special events centers, and outdoor summer entertainment series. Two professional golf courses designed by Robert Trent Jones and Arnold Palmer are in addition to the Crispin Center golf course and a par three course. Wheeling Park and 35 neighborhood playgrounds and ball fields dot the city. Our paved trail system which is the region's largest and our state's largest urban system has 24 miles already constructed for walkers, joggers, cyclists and roller bladers. Additional miles are funded and in design stages. What about cultural, ethnic and religious diversity? The Wheeling area boasts one of the broadest ethnic, cultural and religiously diverse regions in the nation, with numerous descendents of and current immigrants from, western Europe, Asia and Africa. Churches, temples, and cultural centers abound. Oglebay Institute is the nation's oldest cultural and arts institution, with activities on three campuses mansion3a.jpg (6850 bytes)

ranging from visual and fine arts, performing arts and traveling exhibits. The Wheeling Symphony is a metropolitan class orchestra, with 35 performances annually. Jamboree USA welcomes residents and visitors to weekly shows by top country music artists. The OVations Youth Orchestra was one of two of our nation's youth symphonies to participate in an international youth festival in Australia. Plans are in the works for a tour of Europe.

Is safety an issue for you? West Virginia has led the nation for a quarter century as the safest state in the union, and the Wheeling area our state. Our people are good, hard-working folks who love the community and their neighbors. Our excellent public safety forces provide security and protection from those who do not. We walk away annually with top honors and insurance ratings with our superior fire department. Health care: we hope you never get sick or injured. But if you do, we can deliver. We can deliver babies with excellence as well as general and acute health care and maintenance. Numerous specialties from cardiac and cancer care to wellness and women's centers are provided by two excellent hospitals, clinics and other providers. Psychiatric and behavioral health services address the continuum of care spectrum. Excellent residential programs are provided for people with mental illnesses, developmental disabilities and other medical frailties. Senior residential opportunities are numerous and varied, as are activity centers for our older residents. Wheeling has been a national demonstration site for Alzheimer's disease and breast cancer care. The Howard Long Wellness Center is a national model for health, fitness and prevention.

Is this a sports town or what? Little League baseball and girls softball teams are numerous and active. One of the nation's oldest and best skilled amateur hockey associations is here. Soccer was active here long before it caught on nationally; the original soccer moms live here. Wheeling is proud to host two professional minor league teams. The Wheeling Nailers are a successful East Coast Hockey League professional hockey club and the Ohio Valley Greyhounds are the current NIFL indoor football national champions. Football fanatics love active high school events in the nation's largest association of high school sports, the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference.

Do you love history? The last battle of the American Revolution was fought here. indhall1a.jpg (6475 bytes) The western counties of Virginia assembled delegates at Wheeling to form the new state of West Virginia during the Civil War. Wheeling was a stop along the Underground Railway. Wheeling was the original gateway to the west, as pioneers assembled here and gathered supplies for packet boat trips down the Ohio River or wagon train excursions to the west. The most outstanding collection of high style Victorian architecture is preserved here. The Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation is advancing its plan to capitalize on our nationally significant history while creating a vital, sustainable downtown adjacent to our historic waterfront.

Business opportunities? We are within one day's drive of half the population of the United States. Think about that...then call us! The Chamber of Commerce and the Ohio Valley Industrial and Business Development Corporation want to work with you. A small business development center and numerous incentives are available for you to consider. Local government and the private sector are working closely to provide land, financing and other project assistance for you. We have an excellent work force that is augmented by the Governor's Work Force Development Program which offers training assistance for the new employees of your business here.

citybld1a.jpg (4819 bytes) How about city government? A charter change in 1992 has created a dynamic partnership among local government, residents and the business community. City Council and Administration have forged a team that is user and customer friendly. A newly reorganized Department of Economic and Community Development is customer and project oriented, as distinct from a bureaucratic, permit-based operation. City Council, working with a broad base of residential and business citizens, has adopted a new Comprehensive Plan for the city that calls for preserving and improving our wonderfully distinct neighborhoods as well as for focused economic growth. City government is proving itself with its commitment to the Plan as well as with its partnerships with the Chamber of Commerce, neighborhood organizations and the Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation.

Wheeling is known as "The Friendly City" for good reason. Come and see! A word of warning: if you are a 'mean' person, our friendliness is infectious. waterfrnt.jpg (7317 bytes) Are we bragging? Our Mayor says it's not bragging if we can do it. We enjoy a quality of life that is unparalleled. Come for a visit. Come here to live. Come to play. Come to worship. Come for the best education for your children. Come to retire. Come to locate your business here. Come to learn about that "Wheeling Feeling". COME LOOK AT US NOW!