Wheeling is another Rust Belt cities along the Ohio River. Its population peaked at over 60,000 in the 1930s. Today less than half that many live in the city. There were plenty of empty storefronts downtown and it was easy to find a place to park. I dutifully put a few coins in a cobweb covered meter at one spot. While walking around I noticed that I was the only person who had fed the meter.
One benefit to having a dying downtown is that the old buildings don't get modified, which results in a de facto preservation policy. There were plenty of buildings and storefronts that looked like they hadn't changed in decades. Dane has a better picture of the Spic & Span Cleaners. I was tired and didn't feel like switching out the wide angle lens.
Wheeling is only an hour from Pittsburgh, but Kaufman's of Wheeling is not related at all to Pittsburgh's old Kaufmann's Department Store. The latter is no more but I did visit the Kaufmann family house in rural Pennsylvania.
First of all, WOW. Those are great photos. I didn't even see the Chris Miller store (I've known three Chris Millers in my life. Very common name, that.) The Kaufman's store - you got it without a stream of cars either flying by or parked in front!
Secondly, no. Thanks for the plug and the kind words, but yours is by far the better shot. Leaving that lens on was obviously the way to go.
And finally - when were you there?? I was there around 2:30-3 on a work day and the traffic was crazy, and there was no place to park anywhere.
Posted by: Dane | 30 November 2009 at 10:52 PM
Hmmm, I went downtown early on the Monday morning for a bike ride then returned for a couple hours just before lunch. One of us must have hit an unusual traffic condition.
Posted by: Joe | 01 December 2009 at 07:26 PM