Charles Wesley Wheeler, son of John and Eliza (Hebard) Wheeler and brother of Frank E. Wheeler, was born in Yonkers March 21, 1858 and died in his native city on July 6, 1900. Wheeler attended Yonkers’ public schools and after graduation pursued independent study with private instructors in the fields of engineering and surveying. About 1888 Wheeler found employment at the office of the City Engineer as head of the municipal water supply. Shortly afterwards, he was placed in charge of all of the city’s public works. In 1891 Wheeler opened a private surveying and engineering office. Credited with the building of “many of the fine residences which make Yonkers distinctive as a city of homes,” Wheeler was associated with the development of park Hill and Van Cortlandt Park as well as “other sections of the city, which are now condisered the substantial and long established suburbs of the finer class.”

Among buildings Wheeler is known to have designed are: 12 Warburton Avenue (1896); 279 South Broadway (1896); and the Wheeler Block (15–23 North Broadway, 1896).