Photo Provided Mary McKinley of the OVGH History Group smiles while holding one of the time capsules found at the OVMC demolition site.

WHEELING — The history of Ohio Valley Medical Center is being preserved in the collection and cataloging of artifacts including old nursing uniforms, surgical equipment from the Civil War era, photos and two time capsules found in cornerstones.

The job is being led by two former OVMC nurse administrators — Mary McKinley and Betty Jo Sproull — who are part of the OVGH History Group. Other committee members include Jim Stultz, Margaret Brennan, Peggy Porter, Bekah Karelis, Michele Rejonis and Laura Carroll.

Both McKinley and Sproull recently showed off some of the artifacts being stored and researched at the Ohio County Public Library’s Wheeling Room.

The former OVMC campus is being razed to make way for a new regional cancer center that will be operated by WVU Medicine.

The women’s goal is to eventually be able to display the items for former employees and others to see, perhaps on a rotating basis at the library. The largest of the artifacts are the large letters attached to a tower on one of the early buildings. The OVGH, aka Ohio Valley General Hospital, letters are anticipated to be taken down by the demolition contractor and stored by the city of Wheeling until the group and city decides how best to display them.

“We want them as that permanent ‘This place was here and it made a difference.’ We talked to the city and we’re looking at different options as to where we could put them,” McKinley said. “We know these letters were not put on the building until 1953 and it cost $2,100 for that.”

She added the demolition workers plan to take down the letters when it is warmer and not icy out.

McKinley believes it is important that the letters are displayed and that other artifacts are available to be seen, as many former employees and others still need closure regarding the hospital and its end.

It was abruptly closed in 2019 by its former owner Alecto Healthcare Services, leaving its workers in shock and residents concerned about the future of healthcare in the region. It was eventually purchased by the city of Wheeling and then sold to WVU Medicine.

“People didn’t have time to say goodbye. … The contribution the institution made to the Ohio Valley is very important and should be preserved, and it should be respectfully remembered,” McKinley said. “The other thing that I think is important is the contribution that the employees made. We have learned through our research and the information gathered that generations of families have worked there.”

McKinley said many people worked there for many years, 25 years or more, and the hospital was important to them. This is why bricks from the buildings are being collected to be given to people in the future.

In addition to the artifacts, such as uniforms and photos, they also found board of directors meeting minutes dating back to 1890 when the hospital was started. There are also staff, alumni, auxiliary minutes and more.

McKinley said the time capsules recently found — one from the 1912 building and the other from the 1980 building — will be opened at a later date, most likely during a blessing ceremony. Bricks from the buildings will also be made available during the ceremony as well.

“That’s part of closure. Somebody called and said they wanted a brick. Their mother was a graduate and worked there for 25-plus years and she wanted to put a brick on her grave,” Sproull said.

The cornerstones protecting the time capsules are also in storage.

“The 1912 capsule sat about two feet off the ground behind a huge stone,” Sproull said.

The group is also working on a documentary/oral history presentation about the hospital with help from Wheeling Heritage. It will be titled “Beacon Light — A History of OVGH, OVMC and the OVGH School of Nursing.”

“The big thing now is pulling all that data together. We’re trying to do it by eras,” Sproull said.

Some former doctors there have already been interviewed about their time there and more interviews may be done in the future.

She noted the nursing school was the first in the state of West Virginia.

“It was actually 10 women from St. Matthew Church that started it,” she said.

McKinley said they have been able to find some of the founders’ names, but others were instead simply listed as “Mrs.” and then their husband’s name.

“We noticed in the history of the hospital there was a shift. In the beginning it was women,” she said. “There was a woman administrator. It was all about the nursing staff. But it gradually over time begins to change and becomes way more focused on men and the physicians and male administrators.”

Sproull said the hospital also took educating its future employees seriously, offering nursing education and more.

“We had the school of nursing and interns, residents. We had a radiology program and lab tech program. We had respiratory therapy. We had preceptorships,” she said.

The original hospital and nursing school began in an old building already on site that the group of 10 women purchased for $16,230 in about 1830. The women raised the money to purchase it by holding bake sales, dinners and plays. The building had 60 rooms. Eventually it was condemned in about 1910 because it was in bad shape. The women had it torn down and built a new, larger building. This is the same structure that has the tower where the OVGH letters were later installed and remain today, for now.

“The stone we took out for the 1912 time capsule said, ‘For the people, by the people.’ Because donations are what made it happen,” McKinley said.

While McKinley and Sproull have been working on sorting, preserving and dating items for about a year, there is much more to sift through.

“There are at least 80 boxes of items and pictures and all kinds of stuff that are documenting this history,” McKinley said. “If there is ever a Wheeling museum we got stuff. We’ll see what happens.”

For now, the library has already started scanning and displaying photos on its website for the public to see.

Other groups involved in the effort include WVU Medicine, Friends of OVMC and the Alumni Association of the OVGH School of Nursing. The demolition company, F.R. Beinke Wrecking Inc., has also allowed the women to come on site and retrieve items, such as the time capsules. McKinley said they believe they have saved everything they need and want from the buildings, but the contractor continues to keep an eye out for any items they might find significant.