Ohio Valley General Hospital/Ohio Valley Medical Center History

Ohio Valley Medical Center was a 200-bed hospital in downtown Wheeling. It began as City Hospital on January 1, 1890, following an initiative by Wheeling women’s groups led by the women of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church. City Hospital took quarters in the former Wheeling Female Seminary and opened to patients in 1892.  

In 1911, the original 60-bed building was declared unsafe and was razed the following year. A new 154-bed health center was designed by architect Edward F. Stevens. On January 14, 1914, the East Building of the present hospital complex was opened on the old seminary site, and the hospital officially became Ohio Valley General Hospital.

City Hospital Training School for Nurses opened in conjunction with the hospital in 1892 and was the first nursing school in West Virginia. The first two nurses trained there received their diplomas in 1894. In 1926, the Nurses Residence was built to house the large classes of nurses. The school of nursing closed in 1988.

On January 26, 1973, the hospital’s board of trustees voted to change the name to Ohio Valley Medical Center to reflect the growing services, staff, and broader geographic focus of the facility. In April 1976, the hospital embarked on the most extensive building program of its history, a new eight-story patient tower designed to accommodate 200 replacement beds previously located in the East Building. On April 27, 1980, this new West Building opened.

Once one of the area’s largest employers, Ohio Valley Medical Center offered an array of primary and tertiary care, from emergency and trauma services to rehabilitation and medical education of future physicians and other medical professionals. Ohio Valley Medical Center was part of the Ohio Valley Health Services and Education Corporation, parent company of OVMC and East Ohio Regional Hospital. It is also affiliated with Family Services-Upper Ohio Valley. Until 2004 the hospital operated Peterson Rehabilitation Hospital in the Woodsdale section of Wheeling.

[Above text adapted and added to from Gamble, Howard P. "Ohio Valley Medical Center." e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia. 14 October 2014.]

In 2017, Ohio Valley Health Services and Education Corporation was purchased by the Alecto Corporation. The City of Wheeling took possession of the hospital complex in 2021.