Wheeling Park was originally part of an estate owned by Thomas Hornbrook, an English immigrant.
For a time, the park was owned and operated by the Reymann Brewing Company, who patterned it after German beer gardens.
Prohibition and economic downturns at the end of World War I forced the park to close.
In 1924, Charles Sonneborn and Louis Haller purchased the property, intending to subdivide it into residential lots.
they offered to sell the property back to the city if enough public funds could be acquired to buy and equip the park.