Triadelphia District High School History
Currently Triadelphia Middle School, the Triadelphia District High School was designed by Wheeling architect Frederick F. Faris.
The blond brick Neoclassical school has five front sections with every other section projecting out, and two sections being slightly recessed. There are three stories with a lower level and twenty-one bays. The center double doors have a transom and sidelights with corbelled moulding. Flanking the doors are torch light fixtures. Above the doorway are two engaged columns stretching from the second to third floor. On the roof edge is a terra cotta medallion. The projecting end sections have ribbon windows and the center section has three sets of paired windows with end pilasters and terra cotta details. The two recessed sections have individual windows divided by pilasters with decorative brick work at the top. There is a terra cotta stringcourse above the first floor line and on the deep entablature. A similar three story addition was made to the rear c. 1924 and a modern one story brick gym has been attached to the south end of the building.
Behind the school is a one story L-shape Arts Building that was designed by Frederick F. Faris and erected in 1923. The building has three sections with the center recessed back. There are multiple bays, and two entrances with shed overhangs supported by wooden knee bracing. (National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet, National Road Corridor Historic District, 1993)
-from "A Collection About Ohio County Public Schools," Levering C. Bonar, 1978, pg. 99-100.
Triadelphia High School began in 1910 when Allen W. Curtis, principal of the Elm Grove Grade School, and Mr. J. V. Giffin, County Superintendent of Ohio County Schools, believed there was a need for a high school for students of the out-the-pike area. As a result of their efforts and influence, a high school was established at the Kruger Street School for Triadelphia District. Mr. Curtis as principal, with another teacher, taught a student body of twelve. The subjects taught were English, Latin, mathematics, American History, and general science. In 1912 a high school was started at Woodsdale, then the two schools were joined together to form a four-year high school at the Edgington Lane School. There were 116 students, a principal, and four teachers.
The enrollment increased rapidly and Edgington Lane was filled to over-capacity. Plans were then started for a high school building at Oak Park. In 1914, a bond issue was passed but was declared illegal. In 1915, it was again approved by the voters and construction was started at Oak Park. In 1919, the first class of thirty-one (31) members was graduated. The original building did not include the auditorium and gymnasium, which were completed in 1921.
Later an annex was built across the driveway to the rear of the main building containing classrooms for industrial arts, drawing, cooking, sewing, a large cafeteria and storage space. Below this building, were the showers and dressing rooms for outdoor sports. This was near the football, tennis and volleyball courts.
With construction of the Wheeling Park High School, the 57-year-old structure is being remodeled for a modern junior high school program. In January 1976, a $450,000 gymnasium was completed, containing 9,900 square feet of floor, lobby, locker room, storage areas, and restrooms. This is a part of a $940,000 project including renovations to the high school to be used as a junior high school.
Location
▶ 1636 National Road
Images
Library Resources
▶ Vertical File: Triadelphia School, Wheeling Room, non-circulating, ask for access at the reference desk.
▶ Vertical File: Wheeling Schools A-Z, Wheeling Room, non-circulating, ask for access at the reference desk.
▶ Archives Vertical File: Triadelphia High School, please call 304-232-0244 to make an appointment or ask at reference desk.
▶ Yearbooks: The Triadelpian (1918, 1920-26, 1928-42), Wheeling Room, non-circulating, ask for access at the reference desk.
▶ Yearbooks: The Triad (1943-56, 1958-67, 1970-73, 1976), Wheeling Room, non-circulating, ask for access at the reference desk.
▶ Yearbooks: The Junior Triad (Triadelphia Middle School, 1966-1969), Wheeling Room, non-circulating, ask for access at the reference desk.
▶ Yearbooks: The Raider (Triadelphia Middle School, 1978-1985), Wheeling Room, non-circulating, ask for access at the reference desk.
▶ School Newsletters: The Triadelphian (1912-1976), OCPL Archives, non-circulating, must make appointment to view.
▶ "Wheeling Rediscovered: a bicentennial project of Ohio County's public, private and parochial school : essays, sketches and photographs on Wheeling's past, present and future," 1976. Call#: 975.415 W52wr
▶ A Collection About Ohio County Public Schools, Bonar, Levering C., 1978. Call#: Wheeling 379.75414 B64c, Wheeling Room, non-circulating, ask for access at the reference desk.
▶ Educational survey of Wheeling, West Virginia: a report of a survey of the public schools of the Independent School District of Wheeling, West Virginia, made at the request of the Board of School Commissioners, under the direction of the United States Commissioner of Education," 1921, Call#: Wheeling 371.010975414 Ed83 1921, Wheeling Room, non-circulating, ask for access at the reference desk.
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