Wheeling and Matchbooks: A Perfect Match with Tony Paree

Tony G. Paree’s fascinating journey began with a rediscovery of a basement bowl teeming with eye-catching matchbooks and their covers from places visited as a customer and tourist or procured as a collector. These tiny works of art promoting long-forgotten Wheeling restaurants, bars, banks, factories, other local businesses remind us of a once bustling Upper Ohio Valley. Tony is a native of Wheeling who spent 45 years working at Crone's Clothiers and became collector of local memorabilia with a commitment to saving the history that is found all around us. His other books include Victorian Trade Cards of Wheeling ( 2014) and Real Photo Postcards of Wheeling (2019).