The Athenaeum

 The Athenaeum was a four-story structure located at the corner of what is now Sixteenth and Market streets. The first and second floors was intended for use as a warehouse for the Crescent Manufacturing Company, a producer of materials for the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. The depot of the Baltimore and Ohio was a short distance to the south on Market Street. The top floors were occupied by The Athenaeum.

Edwin Booth

The theater, considered the finest between Alleghenies and Chicago, had a separate entrance accessible by an iron staircase. The debut show of the Athenaeum, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, occurred on November 24, 1856. The show ran for an entire week, including a Saturday Matinee. Many great performers graced the stage of the Athenaeum. None, however, were more renowned than Edwin Booth, an acclaimed Shakespearean actor. Five weeks after Uncle Tom’s Cabin had concluded, Booth was at The Athenaeum for five performances. Booth had a brother, also an actor, albeit not quite as well received, who in a few years would become the more famous of the brothers. He was none other than John Wilkes Booth.

1858 saw no performances at the Athenaeum. The Athenaeum re-opened for one month (May) before closing and re-opening again. There was a limited run as a theater in mid-1861, but   with the beginning of hostilities between North and South, the use of the Athenaeum as a theater was over. It would, however, become very useful as a prison.

As the Civil War began, Confederate prisoners were held at Camp Carlile on Wheeling Island. As more prisoners arrived, it was deemed necessary to find another location in which to house them. The Athenaeum fit the bill, thus began its use as a prison. The new prison was primarily a holding area, as most prisoners would soon be transferred to Camp Chase on the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio. As the year drew to a close, the number of prisoners housed at The Athenaeum was nearing one hundred.  As the summer of 1862 approached, many prisoners began arriving with greater consistency. The number of arriving prisoners was much greater than Lincoln’s Bastille, as the Athenaeum was referred to by many, could accommodate. Therefore, the prisoners were sent to Camp Chase almost as fast as they arrived.

The whole building: The Athenaeum, as well as the floors used by Crescent Manufacturing were rented to the government for use as prison in the fall of 1863. Major Joseph Darr of the First West Virginia Cavalry was assigned to command of the prison. The prison would soon become self-sufficient with the addition of a vacant lot next to the building that was taken over by authorities. A twenty-foot-tall fence was constructed around the lot. Within the fence a barracks, a bake house, a kitchen, and a hospital were constructed. Part of the lot was used as an exercise yard. next to the building, the prison would soon becomeKitchens, barracks, and a hospital were added.

Now, more than just Confederate soldiers could be held. Court martialed Union soldiers and spies were sent to Lincoln’s Bastille. Also held, were many locals who would not sign an oath of allegiance. The sick and wounded were tended to by The Sisters of Saint Joseph, from nearby Wheeling Hospital, cared for the sick and wounded. However, the prison hospital soon became overcrowded. The sick and wounded were moved to the newly constructed Wheeling Hospital and the prison hospital was simply used to house the additional prisoners. 

As hostilities ended, the prison was closed. Over the next three years, the building housed a malt business and an agriculture store. An historic fire (the largest in the city’s history) consumed the building in October of 1868. Only one of the units that responded was able to reach the upper floors and the fire burned out of control. The firefighters concentrated their efforts at preventing the fire from spreading to adjacent buildings. This event resulted in the establishment of the Wheeling Fire Department.

Former site of The Athenaeum, currently quadrangle for West Virginia Northern Community College.  WVNCC building in the background is the former B&O railway depot.  Just across sixteenth street on the left is West Virginia Independence Hall, the former Custom House.  Much history at this intersection!  (P. Chacalos)