Short answers, pulled from the story.
The name Wheeling most likely derives from the Lenni-Lenape phrase wih link or wee lunk, meaning "place of the head" or "place of the skull." The name reportedly referred to a decapitated head displayed at the confluence of Wheeling Creek and the Ohio River, though accounts differ on whether the head belonged to a settler or a Native American prisoner.
After West Virginia was admitted to the Union in 1863, Wheeling briefly served as the capital of both West Virginia and Virginia. It had been the seat of the Restored Government of Virginia since 1861; that government did not relocate to Alexandria until August 1863, leaving both state governments based in Wheeling for a short overlap.
Betty Zane was a member of the Zane family that founded the Wheeling settlement. During the 1782 siege of Fort Henry, when the fort's ammunition was exhausted, she volunteered to run to the Zane homestead, fill a tablecloth with gunpowder, and carry it back under fire from British and native soldiers. She returned uninjured, and Fort Henry remained in American hands.
In 1904, Wheeling became the first city in the country to reject a proposed Andrew Carnegie library donation, citing Carnegie's labor record and specifically his role in the notorious Homestead Strike of 1892. The decision reflected the city's strong tradition of labor organizing, which dated back to the United Nailers union formed in 1860.
The original WWVA Jamboree ran from 1933 to 2007, a span of 74 years. That made it the second-longest-running country radio program and variety show in the country, behind only the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. A local revival called the Wheeling Jamboree began in 2009.
Wheeling reached its peak population of 61,659 at the 1930 census. By the 2020 census the population had fallen to 27,062, less than half the 1930 figure, following the decline of heavy industry and the loss of manufacturing jobs after World War II.