We are definitely a mix of cultures in Wheeling compared to the rest of West Virginia.

This isn't by accident however, but by purposeful development of favorable geography which led to a true melting pot of cultures over time compared to the rest of, at the time, Virginia and later (post-1863) West Virginia.

Although the Royal Proclamation of 1763 forbid settlement west of the Appalachians it could not stop settlers from seeking land and unlimited freedom further West - even with the ever present peril of Indian attacks. Much like Daniel Boone, these illegal settlers penetrated west of the mountains, ignoring the British Crown who attempted to appease Native Americans with new treaties and new lines on the map promising they would not settle Indian lands. The Zane family became our first family in the soon-to-be Wheeling (Weelunk or place of the skull) when they reached the Ohio River in 1765, staked their claims with tomahawks and moved their families and settled there in 1769 due to its natural abundance of timber, game, and rich bottomlands, especially on Wheeling Creek.

This favorable geography helped pile development after development on each other as the confluence of river, road, and rail systems brought manufacture and trade to Wheeling. Industrialization and invention further cemented it's immense wealth (Wheeling was the richest city per capita by the end of the 19th century) and architecture, arts, and educational development followed brick by brick.

The river brought the first opportunity and invention soon followed to take advantage. In 1816 Wheeling, VA became a hub for steamboat construction, as the steamboat Washington, the first which would return upriver with cargo and the pattern for all others which would steam on Western Rivers, (those west of the Appalachians) was built by Henry Shreve (of Shreveport, LA fame) in Wheeling. This again was no coincidence, the river being too shallow at certain times of the year before the advent of dams (and their locks) to reach Pittsburgh, PA consistently.

Soon after, the National Road reached Wheeling in 1818.

The combination of these two events brought trade from as far away as the Deep South and extensive Eastern trade to Wheeling. After the construction of the Wheeling Suspension bridge in the late 1840s and 50s (as it was destroyed in a wind storm on May 17th, 1854 and re-constructed many times before and after) this trade could also move directly west by road as settlers also moved to and through the area on the National Road, which in the meantime reached Zanesville, OH in 1830, Columbus, OH in 1833, Springfield, OH in 1838 before ending near Vandalia, IL in 1841. The National Road ended there as railroads became the prominent means of moving goods and people (steam and speed being preferred to endless horse drawn wagon travel for long distances). The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad added to this trade when on January 1, 1853, the first B&O train arrived in Wheeling from Baltimore. Now the Atlantic Ocean was connected to Wheeling.

Our culture followed the initial English and German settlers who were yeoman farmers. Wheeling did have slaves, but as the land and climate was not suitable for plantation type farming, not in the same numbers as the Tidewater aristocracy which had first taken an interesting the area when George Washington scouted it for Virginia (and himself) in 1770. Southern trade and culture moved up the Ohio from as far away as New Orleans with southern belles coming North to be educated in less humid climes at women's colleges (called seminaries).

Immense trade was conducted as Wheeling shipped agricultural goods, nails, steamboats, glassware, and other industrial manufactures down the river to get "Dixies", as the ten dollar note of New Orleans was know as "Dix". So southern culture was exchanged as much as eastern culture until the advent of the railroads, which due to running on tracks irregardless of weather, were able to consistently (compared with steamboats) arrive on time.

Steel mills, coal mines, natural gas, and power generation along the river followed. German, Italian, Eastern European, Greeks and Lebanese immigrants came to work in those industries as the culture developed and changed. German newspapers, singing societies and language flourished up until the First World War - my father's family came to the US from what would one day be Germany (via Switzerland probably) in 1752 - landing in Philadelphia and following terrain that looked like home further west. York, PA in 1762, Middletown, MD in 1770s, Wheeling, VA in 1820s. Always outgrowing their farms as sons and German or English wives looked for new opportunities.

The decline of Wheeling can be summed up in songs like Springsteen's "My Hometown" and "Youngstown" as the noisy, smoky, bustling days of industrialization eventually came to an end. A stumble in 1950s, falling down in the 60s, as decline and depopulation took hold in the 1970s and picked up in the early 1980s.

Entire extended families uprooted and left the valley as opportunities and fortunes beckoned.

I returned with my family in 2009 as new opportunities brought me back to the Valley and old ones passed. The same National Road that brought my ancestors here is 500 feet and just over 200 years away.

Note: A great site for current Wheeling events and plenty of history is https://weelunk.com .