Bellaire, OH

At the 2020 census, Bellaire was a Belmont County village of 3,870 people stretched along the Ohio River in the Wheeling metropolitan area. Coal, railroads, river traffic, and glass shaped the town’s working life, and the Great Stone Viaduct still makes the railroad story impossible to miss: forty-three sandstone arches lead toward the original iron bridge over the river. The village’s old industrial scale is bigger than its present population suggests, which is common along this part of the Ohio Valley.

Imperial Glass gives Bellaire its most distinctive local memory. Edward Muhleman formed the company in 1901, production began in 1904, and the plant eventually employed hundreds of skilled glass workers making tableware, lamps, jars, and other goods. Imperial closed in 1984, but the National Imperial Glass Museum opened in 2003 and now holds more than 3,000 pieces along with a library and research space. The Great Stone Viaduct, the glass museum, the Ohio River, and Bellaire football all point to the same thing: this is a village where old industry still supplies the vocabulary for community pride.