The Wheeling Park Memorial Ice Rink stands as a testament to the enduring appeal of ice skating and its importance to the community. From its early days as a social hub to its current role in fostering youth sports and recreation, the rink has a rich history and continues to offer a variety of programs for all ages.
The facility was opened on December 26, 1959, providing the area with its first artificial ice rink and meeting the needs of an expanding youth sports movement in the valley.
Early Days and Social Significance
Long before the rink opened to the public in 1959, the people of the Ohio Valley couldn’t get enough of gliding on ice. Wheeling Park Ice Skating Rink attracts large crowds throughout the winter.
For middle school-aged kids, the Wheeling Park Ice Rink became a social mecca. “I think we liked it because it was the one place everybody was going to be,” said Kellie Greeley White, a 1985 graduate of Wheeling Park High School.
“We were completely unsupervised by parents or any adult, and there were never any problems, and I frankly don’t even remember being that cold." "I think it was also the place where kids from all different schools got together and had fun, and it was cheap and always available,” she continued.
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“I’m not sure why it was so great, but it is definitely an extremely happy time to look back on. I think also part of it is that it was our special place. We didn’t need adults to tell us what to do there, and there were no teachers or parents, and it all somehow worked out fine."
“It was never too cold to go skating,” she said. “It’s funny because one of my daughters tries to tell me it’s not cold on the ice. I’m so glad she goes." "I loved to skate back then, and it was our social life, and there was a bunch of us girls from the Elm Terrace Area that used to go every weekend,” Lowe added. “We really enjoyed it when they had the Park Dance atmosphere during those evenings."
“That’s the other thing that I remember very well, the music,” said Greeley White, a resident of Severna Park, Md. “I think in many ways (ice skating at Wheeling Park) summarizes growing up in the 1980s (in Wheeling). It was kind of like ‘The Wonder Years’ TV show. It had everything: boys, girls, couples’ skates, and, of course, horrible embarrassment when you try to do a hockey stop and ended up flattening yourself on the plexiglass.
“There have been some changes that have been made, and one of them is we no longer have the slow songs or the couples’ skate because we went away from that,” Goudy said. “If there’s a couple that want to skate together, they can do that at any time they want on those nights, and there’s some of that, but that’s just another thing that has changed since I was a kid,” he added.
“It does make me sad sometimes how fast kids are growing up today. It seems they have no carefree fun anymore,” she said. “Who can forget the French fries there? They were the best,” she recalled. “My friend Lori Waller and I sometimes would go Friday night, Saturday day and night, and then during the day on Sunday, too,” Donley-Palmer added.
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The Wheeling Nailers and Local Hockey
WAHA has remained a very popular organization for parents and children through the years, so hockey has remained very popular, and part of that has to do with the Wheeling Nailers, too,” he said.
The Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL have played home games at the WesBanco Arena since 1993.
Significant dates in Wheeling Hockey History:
- March 31, 1992 - Public announcement of Winston-Salem Thunderbirds relocation to Wheeling for 1992-93 season.
- October 18, 1992 - First regular season game; Wheeling Thunderbirds defeat Dayton Bombers, 9-3.
- June 18, 1996 - Team name changed from "Thunderbirds" to "Nailers."
The Nailers have contributed significantly to the local hockey scene, inspiring young players and fostering a love for the sport.
Highlights - 12/05/25 Wheeling Nailers VS Greensboro Gargoyles
Wheeling Amateur Hockey Association and Wheeling Figure Skating Club
The Wheeling Park Ice Rink is used by 600 Wheeling Amateur Hockey Association players, 125 Wheeling Figure Skating Club members and six hockey teams from five area schools. The rink sees more than 20,000 general skating admissions each year, which makes it the highest attended attraction in the city’s parks.
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The Wheeling Park Memorial Ice Rink is so much more than a sheet of frozen water. It is the memories of children as they cling to their parent’s hand and make their way around the rink on a brisk winter day, or the excitement a little hockey player feels being a part of a team, or the confidence a figure skater gains from mastering a new sequence. These are the investments in our youth and our valley that the J. B. Chambers Foundation, the Wheeling Area Hockey Association, and the Oglebay Foundation are thrilled to make.
Over the years, several successful skaters got their start in the Wheeling Skating Club, including Bob Orr, a recently retired CBS broadcast journalist who began his reporting career at WTRF. Orr was an avid skater and member of the WSC during his years growing up in Wheeling. In addition, three former members of WSC went on to achieve success on the regional and international rinks.
Skaters from the Wheeling Skate Club, along with professionals and skaters from the Pittsburgh area, perform in the Wheeling Symphony’s Symphony on Ice at Wesbanco Arena.
This season, the ice rink at Wheeling Park recorded more than 19,500 admissions for public skating with 300 season passes sold, according to Goudy. In addition to the dozens of members of the Wheeling Figure Skating Club and the Learn to Skate Program, hundreds of youth hockey players participate in the Wheeling Amateur Hockey Association programs.
Renovations and Improvements
Members of the Wheeling Nailers were on hand with other community supporters Monday at Wheeling Park’s Memorial Ice Rink, which will soon begin a $1.3 million renovation. The community “farewell” celebration took place Monday night to honor the history of Wheeling Park’s 58-year-old Ice Rink.
The facility closed today, and over the next several months, will undergo a major renovation. “It’s been 58 years since the ice rink has been here,” Wheeling Park Commission President and CEO David Lindelow said. “It’s the only sheet of ice in Ohio County, except for of course WesBanco Arena. So if we didn’t have this sheet of ice, it would deprive all of the young people from the county to be able to skate. WAHA is tremendously successful. All four high schools play here. We have the Wheeling Area Skating Club that skates here.
“This phase will be completely tearing out the piping and the concrete, and the earth underneath it, because we will have to replace the drainage,” he explained. “We’re actually going to move the ice rink over to square it to the building so we can add bleachers on the other side so there will be viewing for the games. And then we will add new dasher boards.
“But the most important part - and it’s very time-sensitive - is to get the ice rink done, because we want to be reopen on July 4 for the summer events, which are held on the concrete,” he said. “It really is such a tremendous asset to this community,” Bavis said. “I think it’s important to recognize how much support it takes to do a project of this size” Lindelow said. “We have support from the Nailers, WAHA, the Wheeling Skating Club, the J.B. Chambers Foundation, the Oglebay Foundation and the Wheeling Park Commission.
“There had been concerns about whether or not this ice rink would be here in the future,” Janelsins said. “That’s what we’re asking today,” he said, noting that community donations are still needed to help fund the project. “We’re trying to raise $1.3 million to refurbish and renovate this space, and we need the community to step forward and make gifts.
Today marks the opening of the Wheeling Park Memorial Ice Rink. The opening also signals the completion of a $560,000 upgrade to the facility with the installation of new chillers for ice making and other improvements to the electrical and plumbing systems. The upgrades were made possible by gifts from the J. B.
The improvements unveiled today are the first phase planned for the facility.
“That’s why, every few years, we try to make improvements on the ice rink level of the White Palace because even though the crowds aren’t as big as when I was a kid, this facility still gets used a lot each winter,” Goudy said.
“That’s the equipment that chills the ice for us, so it was important for that project to take place,” Goudy said. “And in the future we’re looking at doing some cosmetic things that will made this entire facility more attractive than it is today.
“The only major project that is on the radar right now concerns the pipes that are located under the rink because they are the same pipes that were installed in the 1950s,” the operations manager reported.
“Friday night is our bigger night usually each weekend, but it also depends on the weather, especially the temperature,” Goudy explained. “The high 30s are normally the ideal temperatures for a big crowd to come skating, especially at this time of year because that’s pretty warm for January,” he said.
Other Ice Rinks in the Region
Although the Wheeling Park Memorial Ice Rink is the region’s only true ice rink, pop-up rinks are common at festivals. Most of them, though, are created using synthetic ice, which is made of a slippery polymer that gives visitors the thrill of the skate without the chill of the ice.
About an hour south of Wheeling skaters can slip and slide to their hearts’ content at the New Martinsville Marina Community Ice Rink. Danny Westfall started the rink about five years ago to give the children of the area a place to have some safe outdoor fun in the winter.
As more families discovered the rink, Westfall and other community members joined together to make it a truly special place, which includes small fires for warming, hot cocoa and even grilled hot dogs on special afternoons. In addition to providing skates, Westfall (known from his bus driving days as Mr. Danny) has a stock of gloves, blankets, coats and hats for anyone who came unprepared to skate.
New Martinsville artist E. Stanley Yost loves the New Martinsville Community Ice Rink so much that it is often the subject of his paintings.
People have come from Moundsville, Wheeling, Marietta and elsewhere in the region to enjoy not just the excitement of skating on an outdoor rink, but for what feels like a moment from what some might call “the good old days” when small town friends and neighbors spent some time laughing together while zipping around the ice on a cold winter afternoon.
New Martinsville resident Cherika Vaughn takes her two boys there often during the colder months. She says she is incredibly moved by Mr. Danny’s generosity.
Historical Timeline of Wheeling Park
Opening on May 30, 1925, Wheeling Park has matured gracefully. Some of the park's older points of interest still remain: the White Palace (1926), the handsome Sonneborn gates, the impressive "Madonna of the Trail" statue (erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1928), the charming Frank Rock Garden (created in 1929), the Schwertfeger Shelter (1948) and the Stifel Playground (1948) and the golf course (opening 1926).
Construction of the Memorial Ice Rink changed Wheeling Park into a year-round facility when it opened in 1959. The W.E. Stone Memorial Clubhouse and Pool opened in 1968, with a water slide added in 1979.
In 1972, a boathouse, dock and miniature golf course was added to the Good Lake, and in the same year, a tennis air dome was erected. The hilltop area at Wheeling Park started its development with Sonneborn Shelter, completed in 1973.
Six tennis courts and the Boyce Tennis Shelter were added to the hilltop in 1984, and the soccer field complex was added in the late 1980s.
## WesBanco ArenaWesBanco Arena (originally Wheeling Civic Center) is a multi-purpose arena located in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was built in 1977 at a cost of $7 million.
The arena's original construction date, April 1, 1975, was announced in February 1975, but by September 6, 1975, construction had begun on the civic center.
On October 18, 2003, Wheeling-based bank holding company WesBanco signed a 10-year naming rights deal for $2.3 million. It can also be used for conventions, trade shows, concerts, banquets and other events.
The Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL have played home games at the arena since 1993. The arena hosted games three, four and five of the 2016 Kelly Cup Finals, featuring the hometown Nailers taking on the visiting Allen Americans.
The outer hallways are lined with display cases as the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. These cases display memorabilia from all schools past and present in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference, as well as memorabilia from Ohio Valley natives, who have gone on to professional sports careers, including Bill Mazeroski, Bobby Douglas, Chuck Howley, Phil Niekro and Joe Niekro, among others.
It also played host to the West Virginia Mountaineers basketball team for one season in the 1999-2000 season due to construction at the team's normal venue. Other sporting events such as high school basketball, College basketball, college hockey, indoor football and others have hosted games at the arena on a regular basis.
Comedians such as Larry the Cable Guy and Jeff Dunham have appeared at the arena. Stage shows such as Cats, Chicago, Lord of the Dance and Blue Man Group, have also packed the arena. This arena has also played host to high action entertainment events such as Monster Jam, WWE, Thunder Nationals, Freestyle Motocross, PBR and others every year.
And in the end, that is how ice skating has remained a popular activity for hundreds of years.