FOW Tour - 80 14th Street/Charles Frissell House

Friends of Wheeling toured 80 14th Street (Charles Frissell House) on August 3, 2022.

Sanborn Insurance maps and city directories indicate that a small, one-story grocery store, operated by Owen McCann, stood at this location in the late 1880s and early 1890s. The brick grocery (pink color) was much smaller than the current building, with a frame addition (yellow) on the back and a hen house at the rear of the property.

The 1894-95 Wheeling City Directory is the first directory to show the office and residence of Dr. C. M. Frissell, physician and surgeon, at 80 14th Street. By the time of the 1902 Sanborn map, the three-story, brick Queen Anne building had reached its current size and shape.

Charles Mason Frissell (1859-1918) was a son of Dr. John Frissell (1810-1893), a renowned Wheeling doctor [Dr. John Frissell lived about a block away, at 54 14th Street, along with his other son, chemist Walker Frissell (1862-1944)]. Charles would have been a toddler at the beginning of the Civil War when his father was appointed by Governor Francis Pierpont as medical superintendent of the military prisoners and soldiers stationed at Wheeling. Charles’s own medical education was obtained at Columbia University and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York. In 1893 he married Sophia Logan (1858-1952), the daughter of another prominent Wheeling physician, Dr. Thomas Logan. The couple had one daughter, Eliza Logan Frissell (1895-1970). According to his obituary, “Charles Frissell was of a modest disposition, but of generous and sympathetic impulses. Dr. Frissell lived up to the highest standards of his profession. He was closely associated with the management of the North Wheeling Hospital, which his father had helped to establish.”

Following the death of Charles Frissell at age 58, his widow remained in the family home until her death in 1952, at age 94. Daughter Eliza never married and lived at 6 Kenwood Place at the time of her death at age 74.

Numerous people owned the property after the death of Sophia Frissell, and the building was divided into several apartments. It is currently owned by Edwards Innovations and is for sale.

Video Tour of house: youtu.be/gO5oIhrdWAc