Wabash

History

The first settlers to arrive in Wabash was in 1829 as a result of the treaty of Paradise Spring. The town of Wabash was platted in the spring of 1834 by Col. Hugh Hanna and Col. David Burr. The community was designated as the county seat, and it was incorporated in 1834. The town prospered due to its proximity to the Wabash and Erie Canal. In 1870 the Wabash County Courthouse and most of downtown was destroyed in a fire. However, the resilience of the city led Wabash to recover. The construction of the Big Four Railway brought even more growth to the small town but led to the neglect of the canal. Wabash used a new type of carbon arc light invented by Charles Brush in 1870. On March 31, 1880, four 3,000-candle power lamps were suspended from the top of the courthouse. Two telegraph wires ran from the lamps to the courthouse basement, where they were connected to a generator powered by a 12-horsepower steam engine to provide power The James M. Amoss Building, Downtown Wabash Historic District, East Wabash Historic District, First Christian Church, Honeywell Memorial Community Center, Honeywell Studio, McNamee-Ford House, North Wabash Historic District, West Wabash Historic District, and Solomon Wilson Building are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Wabash Free Trader was published in Wabash from 1871 to 1876. The Wabash Weekly Courier was published from 1876 until 1887.

Geography

The Wabash River runs through the town, on its way towards Peru, where it splits creating a series of islands, and where the sandbars are quite common on this stretch. According to the 2010 census, Wabash has a total area of , of which (or 97.39%) is land and (or 2.61%) is water.

Race & ethnicity