Built in 1846 by Hanson Chapline, Oglebay Institute's Mansion Museum was originally an eight-room farmhouse. The Wheeling Mansion went through seven different owners before it was purchased by Earl W. Oglebay in 1900. Mr. Oglebay made the mansion and its surrounding grounds his family's summer estate, and he called the estate Waddington Farms. Upon his death in 1926, after many renovations and expansions of the mansion, Mr. Oglebay willed his estate to the city of Wheeling in order that it become a facility for education and recreation for the region. The mansion became a museum in 1930.

• The Mansion Museum was the first museum in West Virginia to be accredited by the American Association of Museums and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

• Annual events at the Mansion Museum include the winter Festival of Lights celebration, when the mansion is elegantly dressed for the holidays and the entire Park takes on a yuletide glow.

• The Mansion also hosts the annual Spring Antiques Show & Sale, an event held the first full weekend of April, which benefits the museums collections and offers antiques lovers a chance to shop & browse.

• Changing exhibits, history lectures, appraisal events, study travel trips and summer history days complete the Museums year-round public programming.

Situated adjacent to the Mansion, the Oglebay Institute Glass Museum is a treasure house of sparkle and glitter. Featuring more than3000 examples of Wheeling Glass made from 1829-1939, the Glass Museum displays cut lead crystal, Victorian art glass, Peachblow, pattern and depression and Northwood's carnival glass and many other glass examples showcasing Ohio Valley history.

Every visitor to the Mountain State will enjoy viewing the largest piece of cut lead crystal ever made, The Sweeney Punch Bowl. Five feet tall and weighing 225 pounds, this crystal treasure is world famous - a remarkable masterpiece of Victorian glass.

The Glass Museums is one of the few places in our region where the beautiful art of glass making can still be observed and experienced by beginners. Guests can watched skilled glass artisans at work and even try their hands at the craft through one-on-one workshops.

Northwood Gallery
Crystal, carnival, colored and opalescent glassware made by the Ohio Valley glass manufacturer H. Northwood & Company is the focus of this new display of valuable glass. A tour of the gallery will leave visitors in awe as they discover the work of one of our region’s most respected glass artisans, Harry C. Northwood. Located in the lower level of Carriage House Glass, the gallery is housed in Oglebay Institute’s sparkling glass museum.

The Museums of Oglebay Institute accommodate the mobility and visually impaired.