WesBanco Will Shutter Beallsville, Freeport Branches
WHEELING -WesBanco has confirmed rumors circulating throughout the Beallsville and Freeport communities in recent weeks. Branch banks in both towns will close in the first month of 2026.
A WesBanco spokesperson shared the following statement with Barnesville Area News on Tuesday:
We can confirm that we are closing our banking centers located in Beallsville, OH, and Freeport, OH. These decisions were made as part of a broader optimization of our banking center network to better align our resources with evolving customer preferences, including increased digital banking usage.
We remain committed to serving our customers in the market and will continue to do so through nearby branch locations, our online and mobile banking platforms, and our customer service center.
The financial institution’s 3rd Quarter Financial Results Report released on October 22, outlines a Financial Center Optimization Strategy stating, “WesBanco’s mission is to deliver financial solutions that empower our customers for success, and that starts with optimizing our financial center network to ensure it reflects where and how our customers want to bank. In addition to closures, this strategy also includes refreshing existing locations, opening new banking centers in select locations within our existing footprint, and continuing to enhance our digital banking offerings. After a careful review of numerous factors, WesBanco has made the decision to close 27 locations across its legacy markets, a similar number to those closed during the last three years”.
“These closures, which are expected to be completed during January 2026, do not include any locations from WesBanco’s (recent) acquisition of PFC (Premier Financial Corporation).”
Read the full WesBanco 3rd Quarter Report here.
According to posts on the Freeport Community Facebook page, customers are urged to reach out to the company asking for a reprieve.
The “WesBanco Bank here in Freeport will be closing after the first of the year. They do not care how many people rely on this bank and how many people do not have transportation to do banking elsewhere. Perhaps if we all wrote a letter or called and complained they would reconsider this decision….. let’s try and keep our bank open”.
One dejected Facebook poster listing community loses responded with “Take Away#…School…Press…Bank…what’s next?”
For Beallsville, it is the second major loss in less than a year. At a special meeting of the Switzerland of Ohio School Board in May, a unanimous vote by that body closed the town’s high school at the end of the 2024-25 school year.
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The Beallsville branch office, located at 52739 Washington Street at intersection with Ohio Avenue, is just across the street from the community post office.
It was constructed and opened by Woodsfield Savings and Loan, now Woodsfield Savings Bank, on the site of a former two-story commercial building. In the 1980s when cross-county banking was approved by Ohio, First National Bank of Barnesville took over the location. At the same time, the Barnesville bank expanded to the county seat at Woodsfield. In 1993, First National Bank became WesBanco Barnesville, and that company was administratively merged with WesBanco on July 17, 1998.
The Freeport operation, located at 102 E. Main Street in the Harrison County village, traces its roots to the Piedmont State Bank. Operating as Freeport State Bank for decades, the facility went through a series of mergers, first with one of the two Flushing banks. In time, it became part of the Wheeling National Bank – American Bancorporation chain merging with WesBanco on March 1, 2002.
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