Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center

Created to commemorate the town’s steel mill, the Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center (WAMCC) is home to hundreds of historical artifacts from the Weirton Steel Corporation. Founded in 1909, the steel mill employed tens of thousands of local citizens over the course of its sometimes turbulent history. The corporation has changed ownership at least six times; it became an employee-owned company in 1983, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2003, and since then has been owned by a series of large corporations. In 1984, June Eiselstein, a town citizen and former director of the local library, held a series of meetings explaining her vision for the museum in hopes of gaining community support. Her idea started to take shape in 2002 when the museum applied for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and obtained photos, paintings, 16mm film and other artifacts from the steel company, but because the museum and board members had yet to acquire a space for the museum, the items were housed and displayed at stores and buildings around town. In May 2006, members of the museum found a space that suited their needs, and on June 1, the museum at 3393 Main St. opened its doors.

In order to get the museum up and running, four of its patrons—Victor Greco, Ron Kinney, Dr. J. K. Luthra and Dennis Jones—volunteered to alternate paying the rent during the initial months. Later, the museum’s board of directors voted to give them a lifetime membership for their patronage. The WAMCC moved to 3149 Main St. in downtown Weirton in 2011, after a full restoration of the building supported by generous grants from the Pugliese Charitable Foundation and the J.C. Williams Charitable Trust. Among the artifacts housed at the WAMCC are a collection of issues of the Weirton Steel Employees Bulletin—published from 1934 to 1989—and photos of both the town and mill taken by Weirton Steel photographers.

“I doubt there’s any other city that has their community life documented like that,” said Dennis Jones, executive director of the WAMCC. In addition to artifacts from Weirton Steel Corporation, the museum also houses antiques and memorabilia from other former businesses and citizens.