FoW Tour - Niebergall House and adjoining Niebergall Ice Buildings

Friends of Wheeling toured the Louis Niebergall House (4400 Water Street) and the adjacent Niebergall Ice Company buildings on October 19, 2024.

In the spring of 1898, Louis Niebergall purchased the property at this address and built his home, near his meat packing and ice companies. The 1902 Sanborn Insurance Map clearly shows a substantial, two-story brick house (as indicated by the pink color) at the northwest corner of 44th and Water Streets (4400 Water) and the Niebergall businesses within easy walking distance.

Niebergall was born in Bellaire, Ohio, in 1862, the son of German immigrants Daniel and Catherine Schad Niebergall. He and his wife Elizabeth “Lizzie” Fredericka Niedermyer, whose parents were also German immigrants, raised three daughters (Minnie, Lula, and Elizabeth) and two sons (Arthur and Frederick). Family lore says that Arthur could carry 300-pound blocks of ice – the size that was used in family iceboxes. The 1900 Ohio County Census includes all five children, plus one servant and a boarder as residing in their home.

In the early years, ice was cut from the Ohio River during the winter. The company’s production ramped up after Louis Niebergall traveled to the World’s Fair in the 1930s and brought back to Wheeling one of the first-ever ice compressors. By the 1940s, ice production was up to 80 tons a day. By the time of his death at age 91 in 1953, Louis Niebergall had operated his ice company for more than 60 years.

Louis and Lizzie Niebergall’s daughter Minnie (1888-1960), widow of Harry Ripley Hastings (1860-1922), became the owner of the property in 1950, and it was transferred in the fall of 1955 to her son, Harry L. Hastings (1922-2001), who had been born just one month before his father’s death. His older sister was Eleanor Hastings Parks.

Harry Hastings and his wife Doris (nee Sydnor, 1920-2009) had four sons, and Harry and his sons continued to operate the ice business. Following the death of Harry Hastings, his son, Thomas Allen Hastings, acquired the property in late 2002. He attempted to boost profitability by switching from city water with its increasing rates to on-site well water that was treated with a water softening system and industrial-grade UV lights to kill off pathogens and meet health department requirements. Thomas Hastings died sometime before 2009. Gary DeTemple and John Ferrelli (as “4544 Properties”) became the owners in late 2023. It is currently for sale.

Video link
youtu.be/lmnNNIlUtUM