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WHEELING PARK TO BEGIN MAJOR RENOVATIONS AT THE WHITE PALACE

WHEELING, W.V. — The Wheeling Park Commission announced today a major renovation project to Wheeling Park’s White Palace. American Rescue Plan Acts (ARPA) funds awarded to the City of Wheeling combined with contributions from donors will assist in making these renovations possible.

The $3.2 million dollar project includes a new café and café deck, a veranda, and major improvements to the ballroom.

Plans call for a redesigned façade at the White Palace side entrance, a grand staircase leading up to the second-floor lobby and through to the newly designed 7,130 square-foot ballroom. A sky-lit veranda will run across the front of the building with a long wall of windows and French doors.

Renovations also include a café on the west corner of the White Palace main floor extending outward through doors and leading to a new deck.

“The new café is just one of the many reasons for the community to come out and enjoy Wheeling Park. It will become the center where guests can relax, have a light snack and pick up coffee before or after swimming, golf, tennis or ice-skating,” said Bob Peckenpaugh, President and CEO of the Wheeling Park Commission. “The future is bright for Wheeling Park with the many improvements scheduled to happen over the next few years.”

“The American Rescue Plan Act funding allocated to the Wheeling Park Commission will help pave the way for many improvements to Wheeling Park, a true community park that is an asset to our City,” said Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott. “Countless local residents have very fond memories of Wheeling Park from their childhoods, and City Council is pleased to support projects like this one that will benefit our citizens and visitors alike. We look forward to the completion of these exciting upgrades.”

Construction is set to begin this month and is slated for completion in the spring of 2023.

Eriks Janelsins, President & CEO of Oglebay Foundation, shares the exciting improvements and growth that happened at your park this summer!

End of Summer Park Update Video Highlights include: 

The Horne Family Tennis Center and McDermott Family Tennis Shelter

The Good Zoo expanded the Serval habitat & welcomed new animals

Check Common area facelifts with brightened hallways & pre-event space updates

As summer collapses into fall, we hope you’ll continue to come to the parks you love – Oglebayfest is right around the corner. Before long, Festival of Lights will return.

The cycle of Oglebay will continue because you care, because you gave.

Adjacent to the Aerial Challenge Course and the historic Oglebay Silo, Oglebay’s new Climbing Wall is included in our Activity Wrist Band or $10 per climb. With its proximity to the Mini Golf Course and all the Schenk Lake activities, the entire family can enjoy a day in the center of the park you love. The Climbing Wall is open daily 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. and uses a self belay harness system for everyone’s safety.

Celebrations offer wonderful opportunities to establish holiday traditions that will be passed from one generation to the next. Kay and Albert Schenk’s highest priorities were family and community and part of their family legacy is their love of Independence Day.

Albert loved the Fourth of July and fireworks. Kay loved bringing the whole family together, so July 4th festivities at their Marshall County home were big celebrations. The evening always concluded with a grand fireworks display arranged by Albert for the children and grandchildren. Family stories include some legendary mishaps, including a Ford Bronco going up in flames!

The Schenk family have been generous and steadfast donors to Wheeling and Oglebay Parks. Kay and Albert spent their lifetimes giving back to the Wheeling community quietly and never seeking the spotlight. It took a great deal of persuasion by Wheeling Park Commission president and CEO Earl Gaynor to convince the Schenks to name Oglebay’s new lake in memory of Albert’s parents in 1953.

After Kay and Albert passed away their family sought a fitting memorial to honor them in a unique and personal way. The family’s goal was to recognize Kay and Albert for their impact on the entire Ohio Valley. The ideal memorial was to sponsor Oglebay’s Salute to Patriotism event, held every July 3rd on the banks of the lake that bears the family’s name.

Brooke Wetmore, Kay and Albert’s granddaughter, reflected on seeing all the people gathered at the lake each year:

“Oglebay’s Salute to Patriotism brings thousands of people together from all over the Ohio Valley to celebrate our freedoms, community and family traditions. The very things that we celebrate at Oglebay on the 3rd are core values that my grandparents believed in and instilled in me and my family.”

If you are in Wheeling on July 3rd, come experience our Salute to Patriotism and make it one of your family’s traditions to start your summer with a bang!

The original pool and building opened in 1938. While the park has maintained and improved the area over the years, significant investments transformed the outdoor pool by replacing a shallow baby pool with the Fountains of Fun Splash and Spray in 2016. The pool is now heated, and includes large inflatables, added in 2017. We’ve enhanced the refreshment stand menu, extended our hours, and added live music and themed nights in 2018 and 2019. Comparing attendance and revenue from 2015 to 2019, the pool’s business is now 4 times larger, with revenue increasing by 357% because of these strategic investments.

In addition to pool improvements, the historic building has not been forgotten. With its large Palladian style windows, the stone building with slate roof, adjacent to Oglebay’s pool is one of the most popular buildings in the park.

Oglebay spans over 2,400 beautiful acres of Wheeling, West Virginia. The manicured park that includes the arboretum, the Crispin Center and Oglebay Pool, Wilson Lodge, the Good Zoo and the Hilltop is the most familiar part of the park to guests and visitors.

The Hilltop is often a person’s first glimpse of Oglebay. Conveniently located of WV State Route 88, this approach maintains many of the original buildings from the Oglebays’ time here.  These historic places include the: Gate House, stately Oglebay Mansion, Guest House – Casino, Palm Room and Greenhouses, Farm Office and Gardener’s Room, and Farm Manager’s home. Today these buildings respectively act as: a private residence for park staff; the Oglebay Institute’s Mansion Museum; the Oglebay Foundation Offices; Palm Room; Wheeling Park Commission Office of Human Resources; and the main office with the Farm House Sweets and Treats shop on the ground floor.

In addition to these wonderful original buildings, following the level, red-brick pathway, approximately two blocks in total, guests experience the Bissonnette Gardens – which are a re-creation of Mrs. Oglebay’s gardens at the turn of the 20th Century, two fountains, the formal gardens and pool, Anna Kuchinka Amphitheater, the Welcome Center, Garden Bistro Restaurant, Bushfeld Pergola and the terraced gardens, as well as the Carriage House Glass shop and Oglebay Institute’s Glass Museum – home of the Sweeny Punch bowl, one of the largest pieces of cut glass ever made.

The horticulture team plans to return the Palm Room to its original function as a conservatory, the ultimate status symbol from the early 1900s. Leveraging tropical plants such as crotons, bromeliads, lilies and palms, the conservatory will change seasonally with pansies and spring flowers; petunias and summer annuals; chrysanthemums and fall materials; as well as poinsettias and Christmas plantings. A water feature will be reintroduced to this peaceful oasis as well.

The Palm Room and adjacent Greenhouses were designed by Lord & Burnham a greenhouse manufacturer and builders of major public conservatories. They also designed the Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, PA in 1892-3.

Historic photos of the Oglebay Palm Room show towering banana palms, exotic pygmy dates, lush ferns, shrubs and plants. Mrs. Oglebay used the Palm Room and adjacent Greenhouses to grow exotic flowers for arrangements throughout the mansion.

The Palm Room, Greenhouses and the adjacent Welcome Center buildings make up the Aileen Kraft Garden Center. Of course,

guests can also take in the best views of the arboretum and enjoy the delicious meals offered in the Garden Bistro Restaurant on the lower level.

Like the conservatory, the plantings on the Hilltop evolve throughout the year.  Early spring bulbs include multicolored tulips and cheerful daffodils; lush summer plants include an array of textures and colors from celosia, canna, salvia, begonia, argyranthemum, cleome, bidens, gomphrena, verbena, hanging baskets overflowing with petunia attracting butterflies and hummingbirds throughout the season; colorful fall chrysanthemums, ending with our annual gardens of light for Festival of Lights each winter. The Hilltop is truly always in bloom.