Etz Mansion
Henry John Etz and Margaret Etz emigrated from Prussia, Germany and settled in Wheeling primarily because of its extensive German population. The family then moved to Marietta, Ohio where their son Henry W. Etz was born on Dec. 29, 1861. Young Henry worked and clerked in his father’s dry goods store until 1879 when he returned to Wheeling.
He became associated with John Becker in the jewelry business, both in retail and manufacturing. He worked in the professions of jewelry and optometry (then called opticianry) until he left to attend the Opticianry School in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to become what was then called a Refracting Optician. Henry W. married John Becker’s sister Charlotte and on July 13, 1888 their son Harold O. Etz, Sr. was born. Charlotte Becker died, and in 1893 Henry Etz married Cecilia Nelly.
In 1897, Henry and Cecelia Nelly Etz purchased land from the original owners, the Woods family in the Woodsdale section of Wheeling and built a second residence. When Henry and Cecelia Etz moved into Maplehurst with their son, it was more like a manor farm than a residence as they had farm animals, many different types of vegetables, and fruit trees. One tree was grafted to produce five different varieties of apples, each at a different time of the season. Water was provided by a windmill that pumped water from the well to the cistern. The Etzes named the property Maplehurst because of a huge Maple tree was located in the front of the home and later called it Thornhedge because of the Osage orange hedgerows surrounding the house.
In 1896, Henry Etz moved his office from Becker’s Jewelry Store to the National Exchange Bank Building at 12th and Main Streets. He was the first tenant in the new building, which at that time advertised that it had electric lights.
Henry Etz died on October 12, 1906 and Cecilia Nally Etz died in 1918.
In 1904, Harold Etz, Sr. attended Linsly Military Institute, which at the time was located in the Medical Arts Building at 15th and Eoff Sts. He then attended Washington and Jefferson College and the DeZeng Institute in Philadelphia, where he helped perfect the world’s first fused bifocal lens named “Kryptok,” from the Greek word meaning “invisible.” He began practicing in Wheeling in 1908.
On October 1, 1913 Harold Etz Sr. married Charleston resident Frances Black, whose father, Henry Black, was an intermediate court judge for many years. They had two daughters, Elizabeth Etz Greene and Joan Etz Coleman.
Harold Etz II was born on May 14, 1937, the son of Elizabeth Etz Greene and Lewis Greene. He was adopted by his grandparents very shortly after birth and given his grandfather’s name. The Roman numeral rather than junior was given because of the intervening generation. He graduated from Linsly Military Institute then Washington and Jefferson College and the Illinois college of Optometry in Chicago. After serving in the Military, he returned to Wheeling and joined in his grandfather’s optometry practice.
Harold Etz Sr. practiced optometry in Wheeling for 60 years until his retirement in 1968. Frances Etz died in 1970 and Harold Sr. in 1972. Harold Etz II resided in his family’s country estate after the death of his great-grandfather, grandfather and father. He followed the family tradition and practiced in Wheeling for 36 years until he retired on November 1, 1996.
Harold Etz said at his retirement dinner, “I have always enjoyed working with people and have tried my best to satisfy each one. If any person claims never to have had a disgruntled patient, he is either not telling the truth or he has never done anything.” He also commented, “In closing, not only [in] my career of over 36 years, but the practice itself of well over 100 years, it is my belief that if a person stands still, progress is impossible and regression is inevitable.”
Dr. Etz died on January 3, 2002 at the age of 64.
Researched and prepared by Judi Hendrickson