III 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 310 

Recognizing the semiquincentennial of the community of Wheeling, West 

Virginia. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 

Mrs. CAPITO (for herself and Mr. MANCHIN) submitted the following 

resolution; which was considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the semiquincentennial of the community of 

Wheeling, West Virginia. 

Whereas 2019 marks 250 years since the September in which 

pioneer Colonel Ebenezer Zane used an axe to notch, girdle, and strike his name into a gathering of trees, marking a plot of land through tomahawk rights; 

Whereas, in the spring of 1770, Zane returned with his 

brothers, Jonathan and Silas, to inhabit the clearing he 

created above the mouth of Wheeling Creek and they, 

along with the families who soon followed, formed the nucleus of the community that would become the city of 

Wheeling; 

Whereas, in 1782, Native American and British forces attacked Fort Henry in Wheeling to drive out colonial settlers; 


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Whereas the ammunition supply at Fort Henry was exhausted, and Betty Zane courageously volunteered to retrieve gunpowder from the Zane family homestead, gathered the gunpowder in a tablecloth, and safely returned, 

resulting in a victory for the citizens of Wheeling; 

Whereas, in 1810, Conrad Cotts, an experienced miner from 

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, opened the first commercial 

coal mine in the area that is now West Virginia in Wheeling; 

Whereas the territory of Wheeling was originally part of the 

Commonwealth of Virginia; 

Whereas the First Wheeling Convention took place from May 

13 to May 15, 1861, at West Virginia Independence Hall, 

located at the corner of 16th Street and Market Street; 

Whereas, on May 23, 1861, voters in Virginia ratified the Secession Ordinance to leave the United States and join the 

Confederacy; 

Whereas, in June 1861, pro-Union Virginians met for the 

Second Wheeling Convention and— 

(1) declared all State offices in Virginia vacant and 

all acts of the General Assembly to be null and void, thus 

creating the Restored Government of Virginia that 

sought to rebuild ties with the Union; and 

(2) installed Wheeling as the provisional capital; 

Whereas, on October 24, 1861, residents of the area that is 

now West Virginia voted to approve statehood for West 

Virginia; 

Whereas, on April 20, 1863, during the middle of the Civil 

War, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation 

on the admission of West Virginia to the Union; 


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Whereas the city of Wheeling became the first capital of the 

State of West Virginia, and Wheeling served intermittently as the capital until Charleston was selected by a 

vote of the citizens of the State; 

Whereas the city of Wheeling served as an early transportation epicenter, connecting the Ohio River with the Potomac River via the National Road, opening further expansion to the West; 

Whereas ‘‘Nail City’’ became an early nickname for Wheeling, reflecting the strong steel industry and the growing 

manufacturing presence of the State in the region; 

Whereas the Wheeling Suspension Bridge was once the longest suspension bridge in the world, and construction 

mechanisms of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge were 

used while building the Brooklyn Bridge in New York; 

Whereas, on September 23, 1952, General Dwight D. Eisenhower telegrammed Senator Richard M. Nixon, requesting to meet face-to-face the following day in Wheeling 

where General Eisenhower was holding a presidential 

campaign rally and would ultimately approve of Senator 

Nixon as the Republican nominee for Vice President; 

Whereas the Wheeling Jamboree, utilizing local country 

music talent, was first aired on WWVA at 11 p.m. on 

Saturday, January 7, 1933, revolutionizing the way radio 

appealed to listeners; 

Whereas participants of the Ogden Newspapers Half Marathon run 13.1 miles on one of the toughest courses in the 

United States; 

Whereas the Wheeling Nailers, a member of the East Coast 

Hockey League and an affiliate of the Pittsburgh PenVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:45 Sep 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR310.ATS SR310

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guins, is the oldest surviving minor league franchise 

below the American Hockey League; 

Whereas the Winter Festival of Lights at the Oglebay Resort 

in Wheeling attracts more than 1,000,000 visitors annually for one of the best holiday light shows in the United 

States; and 

Whereas DiCarlo’s Pizza took advantage of the post-World 

War II economic boom and expanded across the Northern 

Panhandle of West Virginia, becoming famous for cold 

cheese piled on top of a rectangular pizza slice: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) recognizes the semiquincentennial of the 

3 community of Wheeling, West Virginia; and 

4 (2) encourages the citizens of Wheeling to ob5 serve and celebrate the semiquincentennial with ap6 propriate ceremonies to commemorate this historic 

7 occasion. 

Æ 


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