Oglebay Institute, a multi-faceted nonprofit organization, annually offers more than a dozen major exhibitions, 75 music and theater performances, special events, camping programs, outdoor programs and 350 classes, workshops and seminars covering a broad spectrum of the arts, cultural and nature education topics.

The Institute was founded in 1930 "to enrich the lives of all persons who seek a deeper understanding of our life and time," and today its membership numbers in the thousands from the Tri-State area. Oglebay Institute has grown to a staff of 40 full-time employees, 70 part-time instructors, and hundreds of volunteers. Its programming reaches a quarter million people each year.

Through its outreach program, more than 30,000 students annually take part in field trips and enjoy programs brought to the classroom.

Wheeling's splendid past, along with life in the Upper Ohio Valley, are showcased at the Institute's Mansion Museum, a graceful, neo-classical style building constructed in 1846 in what is now Oglebay Park. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and the first museum in West Virginia to be accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Mansion features period rooms displaying decor and artifacts from the late eighteenth century to late nineteenth century. The history of the Oglebay family, who donated their property to Wheeling for a park, is also detailed here.

The Stifel Fine Arts Center, home of Oglebay Institute's Fine Arts Department, offers studios, classrooms and galleries in a stately, multi-million dollar mansion on historic National Road. Local, regional and national artists and craftsmen exhibit their work in the Stifel's Hart Galleries. The department's Dance Class Program is centered at The Stifel. The Fine Arts Department also sponsors social and special events, including internationally-known folk dance camps.

Oglebay's outdoor Anne Kuchinka Amphitheater is home to the Summer Entertainment Series, which is sponsored by the Performing Arts Department, and showcases nationally known performers. The department also features jazz concerts at the Stifel Center, choral clinics and chamber music concerts. Special programming runs the gamut from children to senior citizens and includes those with disabilities.

Towngate Theatre, in Wheeling's historic Centre Market District, recently underwent a renovation that includes new seats and handicapped-accessible requirements. The church-turned-theater is home to a full season of community theater productions. Towngate also nurtures local as well as national talent by conducting a playwriting contest and staging the winner's work at the air-conditioned theater.

Three exciting new developments for Oglebay Institute have been made possible by a $4.2 million gift from the estate of the late Henry Stifel Schrader. The bequest is the largest single gift ever received by the Institute.

The A.B. Brooks Nature Center at Oglebay, built in 1954, will be replaced on its site by the 12,000-square-foot Henry Stifel Schrader Environmental Education Center. Completion is set for the fall of 1999. The new center will house interactive exhibits for all ages and will ultimately be equipped to transmit educational programs developed at the center all over the world. The Nature Center currently features the new 15,000 square foot Joan Stifel Corson Butterfly and Wildlife Garden and the A.B. Brooks Discovery Trail System, made up of three major self guided interpretive trails covering 4.5 miles. A wildlife sanctuary is also being added.

A second exciting project from the gift is the conversion of the Stifel Center's garage into a state-of-the-art dance and art studio. One story will be added to the building to house an art studio. The lower level will house two large dance studios designed to accommodate various types of dance. Completion is targeted for the fall of 1998.

A third new program realized from the gift is "second-run cinemas" at Towngate, the showing of feature films which never reached the Wheeling area or played locally for a very short period of time. This program does not compete with the local commercial movie theaters.

Wheeling Park

• Nine-hole golf course, clubhouse Heated outdoor pool, waterslide Four indoor tennis courts6 Har-Tru courts100 picnic sites, two sheltersAmphitheatrePlayground, miniature golf Band stand Paddleboats and aviary 
• Covered artificial ice rink (winter)

The Wheeling area is also blessed to have Wheeling Park, a 160-acre sister facility to Oglebay. Nestled amid fine neighborhoods along National Road, this day-use park features a wide range of facilities, most a short stroll from each other. Wheeling Park's White Palace is a multi-use building including a large arcade and game area, snack shop and lighted dance floor. The area is a national showcase of teen-oriented recreation. Wheeling Park offers teen dances and activities here in a well-chaperoned environment and gives Wheeling area youth a top-flight place to go in a setting that is alcohol and drug free. Upstairs is the Grand Ballroom that is used for proms, weddings, banquets and dances by many area adult groups. The lower level of the White Palace is the headquarters for ice skating from October through March. The full-sized covered rink is used by recreational skaters, the Wheeling Figure Skating Club and the Wheeling Amateur Hockey Association. The hockey program includes 500 area boys and girls ages 5-18. All participants in the hockey program are given equal ice time.

Wheeling Symphony Orchestra

The Wheeling Symphony has distinguished itself among orchestras across the nation, attracting internationally renowned artists who often join the orchestra as it travels across West Virginia to perform nearly 40 concerts annually. Founded in 1929, the WSO hosts five classical and three pops concerts each year, as well as a holiday spectacular, "Symphony on Ice."Wheeling is the smallest city in the United States to support a metropolitan class symphony with an annual budget of more than $I million. Guest artists throughout the orchestra's history have included flutist Jean Pierre Rampal, violinist Itzak Perlman, pianist Van Cliburn, Richard Stoltzman, Arthur Rubenstein, Arthur Feidler, Claire Bloom, and Michael Martin Murphy. The orchestra performs annual free outdoor concerts with fireworks for thousands of area residents. Celebrants gather at Wheeling's Waterfront on the Fourth of July for a gala concert, and inAugust bring picnic baskets, lawn chairs and blankets to claim a spot on the grassy hillsides of Oglebay for "Music Under the Stars."

Children are a primary focus of the orchestra's ever-expanding 50-year-old "Young People's Concerts" that now include a statewide tour for more than 10,000 students each year. Another 5,000 students attend the concerts in Wheeling. The orchestra also maintains an active role as partner in Education with Triadelphia Middle School. Members of the orchestra and guest performers often visit the school as music and choral coaches.

West Virginia Independence Hall

Listed on the National Register of Historic places in part because of its unique architecture, West Virginia Independence Hall in downtown Wheeling is the mast historic site in the state, for it is there that West Virginia became the only new state to emerge from the turmoil of the American Civil War.

The building's design was a forerunner to the modern skyscraper, with internal iron beams and girders bearing the building's weight instead of the exterior masonry walls. It has been accurately restored to its former grandeur, including functional gas lights in the main courtroom that witnessed the birth of a state.

When Congress parsed a declaration naming Wheeling, Virginia a port of entry, the building was erected as The Custom House to serve as the Federal Post Office and Federal Court House for western Virginia. The building was finished in 1859, but it was not until the beginning of the Civil War that it assumed its lasting historic role. Union loyalists gathered there and called for a split with the Virginia government housed in Richmond. Soon The Custom House became the headquarters for the government of the Restored Government of Virginia under Governor Francis H. Pierpont. President Abraham Lincoln declared West Virginia a separate state in 1863, an event that now is celebrated both statewide and at the building each June 20 as West Virginia Day. All are welcomed to West Virginia Independence Hall for a complimentary piece of birthday cake.

Although the state capitol remained in Wheeling for a short time after Lincoln's announcement, it soon moved south to Charleston. Nevertheless, the West Virginia Independence Hall has been named a National Historic Landmark and features changing exhibits. Visitors can view the film, "For Liberty and Union" which outlines West Virginia's formation, and take self guided audio tours through the building. Group tours are available by appointment only, with an authentically costumed guide who accurately portrays one of Wheeling's residents from the time of the statehood meetings.