Title: A resolution recognizing the semiquincentennial of the community of Wheeling, West Virginia.
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
This resolution recognizes the semiquincentennial of the community of Wheeling, West Virginia.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 310 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

<DOC>






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;
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;
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 Penguins, 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
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) recognizes the semiquincentennial of the community of 
        Wheeling, West Virginia; and
            (2) encourages the citizens of Wheeling to observe and 
        celebrate the semiquincentennial with appropriate ceremonies to 
        commemorate this historic occasion.
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