Equality

History

On Jan. 26, 1826, Equality was officially established by the General Assembly as the county seat of Gallatin County. The courthouse was built in 1827 for the amount of $1,300.00. Court was held there until 1851, when all legal documents were removed to Shawneetown. The building was later used as a school, church and local society meetings. It was destroyed by fire Nov. 28, 1894. French settlers extracted salt near Equality as early as 1735, while Native Americans made salt here long before then. In 1803, the American Indians ceded their "Great Salt Springs" to the US government by treaty. The government then leased the springs, requiring the holder to produce a certain quantity of salt each year or pay a penalty. The salt works is referred to as the "United States Saline" in old documents. Isaac White was in charge of the salt works in 1811. White volunteered for the Indiana Militia that year, and was killed at the Battle of Tippecanoe. Special territorial laws permitted exceptions to anti-slavery treaties at these salines, and slaves were used extensively in manufacturing salt. The census of 1820 for Gallatin County listed 239 slaves or servants. During the 1820s, Gallatin County included what is now Saline County as its western half. In 1826, the county seat was moved from Old Shawneetown, on the eastern edge of the county, to the new village of Equality, near the center of what was then Gallatin County. Equality remained the county seat until the formation of Saline County in 1847. In 1838, a local salt maker and illegal slave trader, John Hart Crenshaw, began building his manor house at Hickory Hill just five miles east of Equality; he used the house for his business of kidnapping free blacks and breeding slaves to sell into slavery as part of the Reverse…

Geography

Equality is located in western Gallatin County on the north side of the Saline River, a southeast-flowing tributary of the Ohio River. According to the 2010 census, Equality has a total area of , of which (or 98.23%) is land and (or 1.77%) is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,036
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,890
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  2,589
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2,473
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,440
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,374
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  2,240
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2,097

Most recent

• M 3.51 — 2026-06-29
  6 km NE of West Salem, Illinois
• M 2.58 — 2025-08-09
  2 km ESE of Cynthiana, Indiana
• M 2.53 — 2024-03-05
  6 km ENE of Pinckneyville, Illinois
• M 3.07 — 2023-12-18
  5 km WNW of Waltonville, Illinois
• M 2.52 — 2023-06-03
  7 km N of Nebo, Kentucky
• M 2.51 — 2023-05-30
  7 km W of Calhoun, Kentucky