WHEELING, W.Va. (WTRF) – The former Ohio Valley Medical Center will soon be demolished. There was a wealth of history in those buildings. So those records and artifacts have been saved and preserved for posterity.

Their new home is the Ohio County Public Library. There’s a civil war bone saw for doing amputations. And a patient’s bill from 1917. She stayed overnight at a cost of $3.75, and had four X-rays at an additional cost of $18.

The hospital began as City Hospital in 1892.

“We did rescue a lot of material, from the nurses’ uniforms to the old photographs to medical materials such as the wooden stethoscope, pharmacy scales and the minute book,” said Laura Carroll, assistant library director and archivist. “There are all sorts of historical materials that relate to the hospital and the School of Nursing.”

The collection will remain at the library. It is kept secure since it is priceless and irreplaceable.

If you’d like to see the collection, you can make an appointment by calling the library at (304) 232-0244.