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On April 26, 1888 doors opened at the West Virginia Home for the Aged on thirty-seven thirteenth street in Wheeling. The home established a permanent residence for aged women and a temporary residence for wayward and homeless girls. In February 1922, due to the formation of the Florence Crittenton Home, the organization redefined its admission policy, to only accepting elderly women and also changed its name to the West Virginia Home for Aged Women. On May 9th, 1940, the Bloch Mansion, "Elmhurst", ancestral home of Mail Pouch tobacco baron, Samuel S. Bloch, was donated to the Home for Aged Women by his children, Mr. Jesse A. Bloch, Mr. Harold S. Bloch, Mrs. Edouard Ziegler, and Mrs. Steven Hirsch. The large Victorian mansion, built in 1891, received the name Elmhurst because of all the large Elms, which were planted by Mr. Bloch himself. Also located on the estate at the time it was donated were several other structures, including a home for the grounds keeper, a small playhouse used by the Bloch Children, a well which furnished fresh spring water to the estate, and a bungalow which was chiefly used by Jesse and Harold Bloch to entertain college friends. Jesse Bloch stated at a meeting formally donating the house in memory of his mother, Bertha Bloch, "My sisters, my brother, and I desire to make this gift with the feeling that we are doing something that both father and mother would have approved." Upon donating the mansion to the Home for Aged Women, on whose board Mrs. Samuel Bloch served from 1890 to 1894, its name became known as "The House of Friendship". In order to accommodate more elderly women, Board Members decided to add a wing onto the left side of the mansion connecting the two structures. The new wing, which was completed in 1942, provided twenty-four private rooms. Though each resident had a private room, occupants shared communal restrooms which were located on each floor. With new needs developing in Wheeling and a desire to broaden their appeal, The House of Friendship decided to remodel the facility again in 1989. The remodeling included the addition of adjoining bathrooms to each of the rooms located in the wing, an addition of a fourth floor which consisted of four rooms, installation of a modernized kitchen and elevator, and a complete refurbishing of the interior of both the wing and the mansion. The goals of the architects, Peter Greer and James Kling of DRS Hundley Kling Gmitter, were to bring the institutional-type wing and the mansion into the same look of Victorian grandeur. The finished product included enlarged entrance ways, a new terrace area, a raised garden, air conditioning, and a capacity to care for 36 residents comfortably. The interior, like the exterior, was then tied together by interior designer, Lynn Buch. Keeping some of the original mansion's furniture and adding many period pieces, she managed to give the facility a more home-like atmosphere by combining the best of the old with the best of the new. It was at this time, that the House of Friendship took back the name of Elmhurst in their title, calling the facility, Elmhurst, The House of Friendship,Inc. Along with the new name came some new admission policies. It was then that Elmhurst began accepting admission applications from men and couples, as well as from women. In honor of all the efforts during the renovation, in 1992, the Victorian Wheeling Society, LTD and the Wheeling Civitan Club presented Elmhurst with the Grand Victorian Property Improvement Award. Also, in 1997, Elmhurst received the Gold Seal Award for Renovated Senior Housing from the National Association of Home Builders and National Council of Senior Housing and the Best in Renovation Category from The Society for the Advancement of Gerontological Enviornments. It also made the list published by the magazine, "Where to Retire" for being one of the top retirement homes. In a letter to Jesse Bloch after the donation of the home, Mrs. Nelle E. Faris, President of the Board of Lady Managers of the Home for the Aged, writes, "It (the Bloch home) will surely bring comfort, peace, and joy into the lives of many, and will ever be a Beacon Light - for those who need a place to call home." |
Elmhurst, The House of Friendship, Inc., a retirement home located at 1228 National Road, has been, and continues to be a landmark in the Wheeling area, thanks in part to the generosity of the family of Samuel S. Bloch and the vision of an organization named the West Virginia Home for Aged Women.