FOW Tour – 1920 Main Street

Friends of Wheeling toured 1920 Main Street, Wheeling, WV on March 4, 2023.

Structures have existed at this corner of 20th and Main Streets since at least 1853. A map from that year appears to show Silk Factory buildings there, when 20th Street was still known as Webster Street. No other definitive records from that period were found.

By the time of an 1871 map (when 20th Street was still known as Webster), additional development had apparently occurred to the north of the original structures.

The first Wheeling City Directory listing found that includes this address was in 1876, when Thomas Muldoon, marble works and dealer, was shown there. Irish immigrant Thomas Muldoon (1827-1888) came from County Cavan to Steubenville, Ohio, in 1849, where he and his brother Michael were stone cutters and gravestone makers. In 1853, Thomas married Irish immigrant Mary McEntee Muldoon (1827-1890). They reportedly moved to Wheeling the following year and lived on 18th Street before moving to this address. According to family records, Muldoon operated his gravestone business in the rear of 1920 Main Street, and his wife operated a grocery in the store front on Main Street, with the family residing upstairs. Among their children was daughter Margaret (1857-1942). She married Dr. D.H. Taylor, who for a time had his practice and residence at nearby 29 20th Street.

The 1884 and 1890 Sanborn Insurance maps don’t show the additional structures to the north of 1920-1922 Main, but the pink color on the 1884 map indicates that at least by then the buildings on the corner were constructed of brick. The 1884 Wheeling City Directory lists Thomas Muldoon, groceries, 1922 Main, residence same, along with George B. Muldoon (marble cutter), William J. Muldoon (marble worker), and the Misses Irene, Lena, and Maggie (Margaret). Family records also indicate that Thomas’s wife, Mary (McEntee) Muldoon, also hosted a number of her nephews, nieces and other kin at their residence as they immigrated to America in the latter half of the 19th Century.
On April 5, 1888, Thomas Muldoon, age 61, was walking along the nearby B&O railroad tracks as a freight train was backing up. According to his obituary, “The engineer, Tom Kenny, signaled for the man to get off, and supposing of course he would do so, paid no further attention. Apparently Mr. Muldoon got confused. At any rate, he did not step off, and the end car struck him on the head, breaking his skull and inflicting injuries from which he died almost instantly.”

Following their father’s death, sons George and Robert continued in the stonecutting business, and later city directories and the 1890 Sanborn map indicate that a saloon/bottling works was also on the property. Mary Muldoon died that year, but sons George and Robert continued the stonecutting business at 1920 Main, and daughter Florence lived there as well.

By the time of the 1902 Sanborn Insurance map, both George (1901) and Robert (1900) had died, but their sister Florence remained at the property. The map indicates that the property was then known as the Central Hotel, and the 1904-1905 city directory states that Miss Florence Muldoon offered furnished rooms there. She married John Nesbitt in 1906, and a saloon, operated by John Connelly, is shown at this address in the 1907-1909 directory. Additional structures (probably made of wood, as indicated by their yellow color) appear to the north.

Wheeling Oldsmobile Company is listed at 1920 Main Street in the 1917-1918 directory, with Richard Thomas residing on the second floor and John Moses on the third.

The next Sanborn map was begun in 1921 and later supplemented. It shows Wheeling Machine Products in the corner building, which coincides with the 1919-1920 and 1921-1922 city directory listings of Wheeling Machine and Welding Company.

Wheeling Wholesale Grocery appears in the 1930 directory listing, with Wheeling Machine Products Company shown at the neighboring 1916 Main address.

It appears that the property may have been vacant for several years after that. The next city directory listing found for 1920 Main Street was in 1983, when a Mattress Factory is shown at that address. The Sweet Dream Mattress Factory continued to be listed at that address until 2001.

Nothing is listed for this address in the 2004 and 2005 directories. SDI Environmental, carpet and rug cleaning, is shown at 1920 Main Street in the 2005 through 2014 directories. There are no directory listings from 2015 through 2020.

Recent deed records show that Marianne and Tommaso Cracolici purchased the property in the fall of 2020 from Richard A. and Leslie M. Davis. The owner before the Davises was Kathryn Jones, who purchased the property in early 1980.

Tour Video: youtu.be/IAtXtLugtDQ