Outside the Kruger Street Toy and Train Museum Credit all Photos: Bill Rockwell Think of Christmas towns and places like Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Frankenmuth, Michigan and Santa Claus, Indiana come to mind. But Wheeling, West Virginia isn’t one that usually pops into anyone’s mind. A recent visit to the former steel making town on the Ohio River opened my eyes, at least, to the Christmas spirit after visiting two captivating sites. The first, the Kruger Street Toy and Train Museum fills a gorgeous, four-story, brick building with bell tower that was completed in 1906 as a schoolhouse (1906-1991). Now renovated, the historic building now serves as home to close to a half million items, about 100,000 of which are on display. How’s that for Christmas-ish? On the day of my visit, I met founder Allen Robert Miller outside on the parking lot doing chore duty. Before long, he led me inside the ground floor of the museum where I was visually accosted by the sight of the larges
The personal blog of western Pennsylvania journalist Dave Zuchowski.