WHEELING – The land that makes up Oglebay Park might never have become the possession of the city of Wheeling without the urging of Wheeling’s newspapers and Herschel Coombs Ogden, local historians learned Monday.

H.C. Ogden, the founder of today’s Ogden Newspapers Inc., was the subject of discussion at a meeting of the Wheeling Area Historical Society at the Ohio County Public Library.

“He made a difference — not just in the city, but in the state,” said Margaret Brennan, president of the organization. “He was one of the first leaders to see the light and accept Oglebay Park.”

Robert DeFrancis, now dean of community relations at West Virginia Northern Community College, first researched H.C. Ogden while working as general manager of The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register in 1994. DeFrancis said his work then mostly included looking at public records, but it also involved interviews with Ogden’s grandchildren — Pinky Williams and G. Ogden Nutting, both of Wheeling.

The family legacy Ogden began continues today, as Nutting and his sons, Robert and William, remain at the helm of the newspapers.

“(H.C.) Ogden, through the columns of his newspaper, waged a war of enlightenment to have the city accept the gift of the Oglebay estate to be used as a public park,” DeFrancis said. “In fact, his grandson, Ogden (Nutting), is justifiably proud today when he recalls that the Ogden Newspapers ‘pounded away’ unmercifully at city leaders to get them to accept this gift that was to become the jewel in the crown that is Wheeling.

“H.C. Ogden assisted as well in the creation of Oglebay Institute as a cultural arm of the city’s parks system, and was a charter member of the Institute,” DeFrancis continued. “He also was the first director emeritus of the Institute.”

Ogden was born Jan. 12, 1869, in Worthington, W.Va., and went on to graduate from West Virginia University in 1887. He entered the newspaper business despite the fact he couldn’t type, DeFrancis noted. In the early days, Ogden would take down testimony and speeches in long hand.

Three years later, in September 1890, Ogden launched the Wheeling Evening News in downtown Wheeling. The press was in the front of the structure, and crowds watched as it produced eight-page editions.

Ogden soon brought the first linotype machines to West Virginia. These machines set type automatically in metal. At that time, only three large newspapers in the United States were utilizing the new technology, DeFrancis said.

The first issues of the Wheeling Evening News sold at 2 cents per copy, according to DeFrancis. There were no photographs on the front page, but it did contain advertisements.

In 1904, Ogden took control of the The Intelligencer. Then on Aug. 27, 1935, the Wheeling Daily News absorbed the Wheeling Register and became known by its current name, the Wheeling News-Register.

Ogden died on Jan. 31, 1943.

He was inducted into the Wheeling Hall of Fame in 1982, and the board at that time commended him as an entrepreneur who “took a firm stand for good government and the welfare of the ordinary man.”

“His reform movements have left an indelible imprint, not alone upon the community of Wheeling, but upon the state of West Virginia,” it was noted then. “Mr. Ogden early on espoused the causes of tax reform, worker protection and the advancement of humanitarian legislation in the state.”

Regarding that legislation, DeFrancis said the newspapers’ editorials led to adoption of the Workman’s Compensation Act. Others led the way to creation of a state health department and provisions for adequate factory and mine inspections.

DeFrancis cited a “continuity of leadership” as the reason why Wheeling’s newspapers remain viable.

“What most people don’t know — or don’t realize after so many years of unbroken service by these newspapers — is that the legacy of the papers’ patriarch is so full and vibrant it still stands today’s company executives in good stead,” DeFrancis said.

The Ogden Newspapers chain today includes 40 daily newspapers in 12 states — West Virginia, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Kansas, North Dakota and Hawaii. It also publishes several weekly newspapers and magazines.