About Glen Dale
About Glen Dale
Founded in 1924, Glen Dale is a vibrant city located along the Ohio River in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia with a tight-knit community, distinct small-town flavor, and some of the friendliest and most welcoming people you’ll find anywhere.
Just a ten-minute drive from Wheeling, West Virginia, Glen Dale has long served as a cultural and residential hub of Marshall County and the Northern Panhandle and is widely regarded as a great place to live and raise a family—boasting a high quality of life, excellent schools, and access to top-level healthcare services.
From our low cost of living and beautiful parks to our easy access to river, rail and highways, Glen Dale possesses several unique assets and opportunities for people looking to visit, relocate, or open a business. We invite you to come see all that Glen Dale has to offer.
History
Prior to the late 1800s, the area in what is now Glen Dale was largely farmland. By 1890, the Glen Dale Holding Company bought up the land and subdivided it with the idea of creating an upscale bedroom community for Wheeling.
The Cockayne Farmstead, built in the 1850s, is the most prominent historical property in Glen Dale and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its Visitor’s Center is a satellite office of the Greater Moundsville Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.
Owned by the City, and maintained by the Marshall County Historical Society, the farmhouse contains a large collection of important 19th and early 20th Century historic artifacts and primary documents related to the Farmstead, Glen Dale, and Marshall County. In the 19th Century, the Cockayne Farm was internationally recognized for the Merino wool it produced. The name Glen Dale, originally Glendale, is derived from the name of the farm of S.A. Cockayne’s mother.
From the early 1930’s to 1980, Glen Dale was home to a major manufacturing plant for Louis Marx & Company, the largest toy maker in the world. Currently, the facility houses a 340,000 square foot manufacturing, distribution and barge terminal for Warren Distribution, the largest private label lubricants manufacturer and automotive chemical distributor in North America.
Glen Dale has produced a significant number of noteworthy people over the years. The most famous is multi-platinum selling, Grammy Award-winning country music artist Brad Paisley. Other notable Glen Dale natives include country music singer-songwriter Lionel Cartwright, Major League Baseball Hall of Famer George Brett, NCAA Division I basketball coach Josh Pastner, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, former West Virginia Governor Arch Moore, and Nobel prize-nominated scientist Bernice Eddy.
