FOW Tour - 753 Main Street, Alfred Caldwell House

Friends of Wheeling toured 753 Main Street on September 6, 2022.

The building at this address was probably built by Alfred Caldwell around 1874, after he purchased the property from Thomas Hughes. The 1853 map of Wheeling indicates that there was an earlier structure on the same site, so Caldwell may have removed that building to build the current one, or he may have added to an existing building. The 1874-75 Wheeling City Directory lists attorney Alfred Caldwell as living at Main and 8th Streets, and the 1877 Directory shows his residence as the northwest corner of Main and 8th (which is the current 753 Main Street). By the time of the 1888 Directory, he had two local residences – one at 753 Main and the other, his “summer residence” in Pleasant Valley, probably on Bae Mar Place.

Caldwell’s father, also named Alfred, served several terms as the mayor of Wheeling and was one of three Ohio County delegates to the 1860 National Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for President. After Lincoln’s election, Alfred Caldwell, Sr., was appointed as the U.S. Consul to Hawaii, serving there during the Civil War. Alfred Caldwell, Jr. would have been a teenager at the time and apparently traveled to Hawaii with his family.

An 1890 biography of Alfred Caldwell, Jr., states, “Alfred Caldwell, Jr., attorney general of West Virginia, and one of the leading lawyers of the region, was born July 14, 1847. He received his education partly at Prof. Harding's academy, and at West Liberty, and took a regular course at Oahu college, Honolulu. In 1864 he entered Yale college, and was graduated as bachelor of philosophy in 1867. He then returned to Wheeling and began the study of law with his father. In the summer of 1868 he was admitted to the bar, passing examination before the supreme court, and has since practiced his profession, attaining high distinction as an advocate. He was a member of the state senate in 1875-7, clerk of the first branch of the council, 1869 to 1875, resigned when elected to state senate, and subsequently served as member of the council in 1879-1880, and was city solicitor in 1881-2; in first branch of council again in 1884-5-6. In 1884, he was elected attorney general of West Virginia, and was re-elected in 1888 for four years. Mr. Caldwell was married September 14, 1871, to Laura E ., daughter of William S. Goshorn, of Wheeling, and eight children have been born to them.
From History of the Upper Ohio Valley, Vol. I, pages 239-240. Brant & Fuller, 1890.

Alfred Caldwell, Jr., lived at 753 Main Street until his death in 1925. The property was sold in 1939 by Charles P. Mead, trustee for William Goshorn Caldwell, a son of Alfred Caldwell, Jr., and Laura Goshorn Caldwell.
River-Side Development purchased the property in 2002, followed by Victorian Wheeling Landmarks Foundation and then The Vandalia Heritage Foundation in 2008. For years, Uncle Pete’s Restaurant occupied the site. Brenda Alvarado purchased the property in early 2017, and Big Shot Bob’s became the tenant. During the Covid epidemic, business dropped off, and the restaurant closed.

Jeramie Alvarado then completed extensive renovations, opening Carlito’s Soul Kitchen Restaurant in October 2022