In the 17th century, the Iroquois from present-day New York state conquered the upper Ohio Valley, pushing out other tribes and maintaining the area as their hunting ground.

He returned the following spring with his wife Elizabeth and his younger brothers, Jonathan and Silas; they established the first permanent European settlement in the Wheeling area, naming it Zanesburg.

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.

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 Proclamation of 1763.

With the railroad, a larger industrial or mercantile middle class developed that depended on free labor; it felt either disinterest or hostility to slavery.

The Wheeling Intelligencer newspaper expressed the area's anti-secession sentiment as tensions rose over slavery and national issues.

The city became part of the movement of western areas to secede from Virginia after the beginning of the Civil War, hosting the Wheeling Convention[11] of 1861.

One early nickname (until an 1885 strike) was "Nail City", reflecting the iron manufacture in several mills, which dated from the 1840s.

In 1904 it became the first city in the country to refuse a proposed Andrew Carnegie gift of a free library, because of the industrialist's labor record, especially the notorious Homestead Strike of 1892.

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.

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.

[21] As a result of that growth, an ordinance was passed regulating personal cesspools, including a ban on pipe communications with other homes and businesses unless offensive smells were properly trapped.

[22] The Great Depression, and later changes and restructuring in heavy industry following World War II, led to a loss of working-class jobs and population.

Later in 1861 and continuing to 1863, the building was the site of many heated debates during the First Constitutional Convention of West Virginia,[34] including the name of the new state.

The roughly 6-foot-high granite memorial consists of a large bronze dedication plaque with the names of KIAs from the Wheeling/Ohio County region.

The Capitol has welcomed musical performances of all types, from Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Tammy Wynette, to Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, B.B.

The Wheeling Symphony Orchestra is housed at the Capitol Theatre and performs a range of contemporary, classical, and seasonal arrangements.

Live music emanates from the amphitheatre at the Wheeling Heritage Port several nights per week from mid-spring through late fall.

The waterfront park area hosts festivals, concerts, movie nights, celebrations, a regatta, and numerous visits from the Delta, Mississippi and American Queen riverboats.

Formerly held in nearby Belmont County, Ohio, Jamboree In The Hills draws over 100,000 country music fans to the Wheeling area every July.

The Nailers play in the WesBanco Arena (formerly the Wheeling Civic Center), and are part of the North division of the Eastern Conference of the ECHL.

Ohio County has six golf courses, including designs by renowned golfer Arnold Palmer and architect Robert Trent Jones.

The park consists of 60% bowls and 40% street elements; it is located within the Chambers Ballfield Complex in the Elm Grove section of the city.

[42] Under West Virginia law, cities may adopt a form of government called the Manager-Mayor Plan, under which Wheeling operates.

The three bars also symbolize the three major modes of transportation found in Wheeling history: river, road, and rail.

Located close to Pittsburgh, Wheeling is heavily influenced by its broadcast media outlets, which are easily received in the area.

Besides broadcast stations, Wheeling's cable providers carry AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh-centric news/talk channel PCNC as its "home" sports and information sources.

The Wheeling area is the home of WDUQ-LP, a listener-supported commercial-free station, which also serves as the local Pacifica affiliate.

WPHP plays top 40 songs and also covers all of the Wheeling Park Patriots' football and basketball games.

The bus terminal, the Robert C. Byrd Intermodal Transportation Center, was built with $11.1 million in federal funds.