Riley Flats, 45-49 15th Street

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This 10-unit apartment building is located in Michael Graham’s Addition in East Wheeling. Wheeling City Directories as early as 1907-1909 refer to the building as the “Riley Flats,” suggesting that the original owner was named Riley, and deeds show early owners Thomas S. Riley (1856 -1938) and his wife Minnie Breinig Riley. [A biography of Riley follows.] The death record of Riley’s son, also named Thomas S. Riley (1892 – 1954) indicates his profession as “building manager/office building.” Perhaps he managed this building when his parents owned it.

 

Residents at the address were found in the 1901 City Directory, suggesting that the building had been built by then or that an older apartment building – with at least two stories – was located at the same address.

 

The Rileys sold the building in 1923, with the eastern portion going to Jessie and Nellie McGill and the western portion to Henry Reiter. Later owners of the eastern portion included Samuel and Agnes Nesbitt (February 1925), M.T. Manion (trustee, beginning in March 1925), a group of out of town people (J.W. Davis and others, April 1938), Lewis and Jessie Mae Ernest (November 1938), Edward Streski (1959), Kathy Mahley (2004), Edward Streski again (2006), and the City of Wheeling (2009). Later owners of the western portion included George W. and Elizabeth Reiter Bailey (1932), Thomas Fox (1940), C. A. and Henrietta Vaden (1942), Aurelia Streski (1950), Edward Streski (1969) and the City of Wheeling (2009). [The property two doors to the west, 41 15th Street, was owned in the late 1930s by Alice Lias, second wife of “Big Bill” Lias, Wheeling’s most notorious gangster. She lived there after his death]

 

A snapshot of residents from the 1919-1920 City Directory shows the following:

• 45             Dr. Andrew Wilson, physician, residence and office

• 45 ½             William Ellingham, Ellingham & Company and Vice President of the National Exchange Bank

• 45 ½            Mrs. Josephine McLaughlin (widow of Thomas)

• 45 ½            Mrs. Mary C. Schoen – 2nd floor

• 45 ½            Fred Woeber, stogie maker

• 47            Mrs. Anna C. Counihan, widow of James – 2nd floor

• 47            Mrs. Metta S. O’Brien, widow of Thomas, clerk at Dollar Savings & Trust – 2nd floor

• 47            Frank C. Kirkpatrick, Vice President of Turtle Oil & Gas Company – 3rd floor

• 47            George Bratton – 3rd floor

• 49            Catholic Women’s League, Mrs. Thomas A. Beattie, President; Miss Sabina Doyle, Recording Secretary. [Note, Mrs. Beattie and Miss Doyle did not live there.]

 

Residents listed in other City Directories show similar occupations – music teacher, traveling salesman, clerk, bookkeeper, nurse, dressmaker, bank teller, and salloonist.

 

There are no residents in the building at this time. Current owners Heather and Ryan Slack are in the process of renovating the building. They may rename the building “Vivienne Apartments” for their daughter.

 

Prepared by Jeanne Finstein, Friends of Wheeling

January 12, 2013

 

 

Thomas S. Riley

1856 - 1938

 

Noted Wheeling historian, Charles Wingerter provides a lengthy description of Thomas S. Riley. “T.S. Riley, for over thirty years prominent as a member of the bar and in the public affairs of Wheeling, was born in Marshall County, West Virginia (then Virginia), January 8, 1856. His parents were Owen and Mary (Dailey) Riley, both of whom were native of Ireland, but were married in Wheeling.

 

“His early life was spent on a farm. He attended public schools and afterward taught school a number of terms. His subsequent education was at the Fairmont Normal School, which he attended in 1875 and the West Liberty Normal School, where he was a student in 1876-77, graduating in the latter year. In July 1877 he entered the law office of J. Dallas Ewing at Wheeling, and was admitted to practice October 26, 1878. On April 1, 1879, he had formed a partnership with Mr. Ewing, and has been in active practice from the date of his admission to the bar. On November 21, 1881, Judge Thayer Melvin, having resigned as judge of the first judicial circuit, became a member of the firm, under the name of Ewing, Melvin & Riley. This firm continued until 1894, when Mr. Riley withdrew and Mr. J. W. Ewing took his place. Since that date, Mr. Riley has practiced under his own name, and has large demands on his professional time.

 

“Mr. Riley was elected chairman of the Democratic state committee in 1887. He was state chairman five years, and has been active in party affairs and in public service in some capacity or other throughout most of the subsequent time. For four years he was a member of the board of regents of the normal schools. He was elected city solicitor of the city of Wheeling in February 1891, and served two years. At the November election of 1892 his name was on the state ticket for the office of Attorney General of the state, and his election was followed by four years in the office, during which he performed many important legal services for the state. In 1916 he was candidate for Congress, being defeated but succeeding in decreasing the normal majority of the opposition. Mr. Riley has been elected and served three successive terms as city solicitor for the city of Benwood.

 

“He was married November 11, 1891 to Miss Minnie B. Breinig, daughter of Michael and Elizabeth Breinig. She was born in Wheeling. Their three children are Thomas S., James B., and Robert T. The family are communicants of the Catholic church and attend St. Joseph’s Cathedral.”

 

Recollections of his descendants include:

Thomas Sylvester Riley (originally Thomas Owen Riley) changed his middle name to Sylvester so it didn’t sound like Thomas O’Riley, as that was another clan. He was the first Catholic elected to a state office. Riley built the Riley law building, which still stands at the corner of Chapline and 14th Streets. When in his 70’s, Riley actually laid brick with the workers to show them that he knew how to do this and show them that they should do it correctly.

 

Thomas S. Riley’s obituary refers to him as “General” Riley and the “Dean of State’s Lawyers.” He was nearly 87 years old at the time of his death. He was praised for his “wise counsel as a lawyer, and for the kindness and wisdom with which he guided young attorneys to success…He exercised a strong influence among the older Democrats of the state and one effect of that influence was seen in the nomination of his son, James B. Riley, for the Supreme Court Judgeship at the Democratic convention at Clarksburg in 1936 and the election of his son to that office a few months later.” The obituary lists him as a member of St. Michael’s Catholic Church at the time of his death. It also states that he was a member of the first committee in charge of organization of the Carroll Club and was a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Fort Henry Club, and the Elks. Surviving were his wife, Philomena (Minnie) Breinig Riley, three sons, and five grandchildren. At the time of his death, Riley lived at 10 Park Row in the Woodsdale section of Wheeling.

 

Prepared by Judi Hendrickson