Wabash, Indiana

The name Wabash derives from a Miami-Illinois term for "water over white stones." The Miami name reflected the clarity of the river in Huntington County, Indiana, where the river bottom is limestone.Bright, p. 537{{Cite web |title=Wabash River |url=http://nmanchesterhistory.org/more-wabash-river.html |access-date=2023-11-20 |website=nmanchesterhistory.org}}

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.Wabash County Report. Pdf 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.{{Cite book |last=Weesner |first=Clarkson W. |url=http://archive.org/details/historyofwabashc01wees |title=History of Wabash County Indiana |date=1914 |publisher=Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. |others=Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center}}{{Cite web |title=Wabash, Indiana {{!}} Advisory Council on Historic Preservation |url=https://www.achp.gov/preserve-america/community/wabash-indiana |access-date=2023-11-20 |website=www.achp.gov}}

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 {{cite news |date=March 30, 2005 |title=Wabash lighted the way 125 years ago |publisher=Wabash Weekly Plain Dealer |url=http://www.chronicle-tribune.com/archives/wabashplaindealer/wabash-lighted-the-way-years-ago/article_58063626-6584-579d-986c-16582a93175d.html |access-date=March 20, 2016}}{{dead link|date=March 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}The Salt Lake Herald|September 17, 1880|http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85058130/1880-09-17/ed-1/seq-3The Weekly Miner|November 23, 1880|http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84036032/1880-11-23/ed-1/seq-7/The Ottawa Free Trader|April 24, 1880|http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84038582/1880-04-24/ed-1/seq-7/The New Northwest|May 20, 1880|http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84022673/1880-05-20/ed-1/seq-4/>

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.{{NRISref|version=2010a}}

The Wabash Free Trader was published in Wabash from 1871 to 1876. The Wabash Weekly Courier was published from 1876 until 1887.{{Cite web |title=Wabash weekly courier |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84038242/}}

File:Wabash-indiana-from-above.jpg

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 {{convert|9.128|sqmi|sqkm|2}}, of which {{convert|8.89|sqmi|sqkm|2}} (or 97.39%) is land and {{convert|0.238|sqmi|sqkm|2}} (or 2.61%) is water.{{cite web

|url=http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/G001/1600000US1879370

|title=G001 - Geographic Identifiers - 2010 Census Summary File 1

|access-date=2015-07-29

|publisher=United States Census Bureau

|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213050856/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/G001/1600000US1879370

|archive-date=2020-02-13

|url-status=dead

}}

{{Weather box

| single line = Y

| location = Wabash, Indiana, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1925–present

|Jan record high F = 70

|Feb record high F = 74

|Mar record high F = 82

|Apr record high F = 91

|May record high F = 98

|Jun record high F = 104

|Jul record high F = 109

|Aug record high F = 103

|Sep record high F = 102

|Oct record high F = 92

|Nov record high F = 86

|Dec record high F = 70

|Jan avg record high F = 55.3

|Feb avg record high F = 59.0

|Mar avg record high F = 71.3

|Apr avg record high F = 80.6

|May avg record high F = 87.7

|Jun avg record high F = 92.2

|Jul avg record high F = 92.1

|Aug avg record high F = 91.2

|Sep avg record high F = 89.9

|Oct avg record high F = 83.3

|Nov avg record high F = 69.0

|Dec avg record high F = 57.5

|year avg record high F = 94.1

| Jan high F =33.8

| Feb high F =38.0

| Mar high F =48.9

| Apr high F =61.9

| May high F =73.1

| Jun high F =81.6

| Jul high F =84.8

| Aug high F =83.0

| Sep high F =77.6

| Oct high F =65.5

| Nov high F =51.0

| Dec high F =38.4

| Jan mean F =25.9

| Feb mean F =29.2

| Mar mean F =39.1

| Apr mean F =50.7

| May mean F =62.0

| Jun mean F =71.0

| Jul mean F =74.2

| Aug mean F =72.4

| Sep mean F =66.0

| Oct mean F =54.3

| Nov mean F =41.7

| Dec mean F =30.9

| Jan low F =17.9

| Feb low F =20.3

| Mar low F =29.2

| Apr low F =39.6

| May low F =50.9

| Jun low F =60.5

| Jul low F =63.6

| Aug low F =61.7

| Sep low F =54.4

| Oct low F =43.1

| Nov low F =32.5

| Dec low F =23.5

|Jan avg record low F = -3.8

|Feb avg record low F = 0.9

|Mar avg record low F = 10.6

|Apr avg record low F = 23.4

|May avg record low F = 34.5

|Jun avg record low F = 45.2

|Jul avg record low F = 51.7

|Aug avg record low F = 50.6

|Sep avg record low F = 39.8

|Oct avg record low F = 29.0

|Nov avg record low F = 18.4

|Dec avg record low F = 4.2

|year avg record low F = -7.7

|Jan record low F = -24

|Feb record low F = -22

|Mar record low F = -13

|Apr record low F = 4

|May record low F = 23

|Jun record low F = 30

|Jul record low F = 41

|Aug record low F = 34

|Sep record low F = 25

|Oct record low F = 16

|Nov record low F = -3

|Dec record low F = -21

| precipitation colour = green

| Jan precipitation inch =2.41

| Feb precipitation inch =2.25

| Mar precipitation inch =2.63

| Apr precipitation inch =3.54

| May precipitation inch =4.36

| Jun precipitation inch =4.88

| Jul precipitation inch =4.56

| Aug precipitation inch =4.20

| Sep precipitation inch =3.20

| Oct precipitation inch =3.06

| Nov precipitation inch =2.91

| Dec precipitation inch =2.34

|unit precipitation days = 0.01 in

|Jan precipitation days = 9.4

|Feb precipitation days = 7.7

|Mar precipitation days = 9.7

|Apr precipitation days = 10.8

|May precipitation days = 12.3

|Jun precipitation days = 12.2

|Jul precipitation days = 10.0

|Aug precipitation days = 8.7

|Sep precipitation days = 8.7

|Oct precipitation days = 9.1

|Nov precipitation days = 9.7

|Dec precipitation days = 8.9

| Jan snow inch =7.3

| Feb snow inch =4.8

| Mar snow inch =2.4

| Apr snow inch =0.4

| May snow inch =0.0

| Jun snow inch =0.0

| Jul snow inch =0.0

| Aug snow inch =0.0

| Sep snow inch =0.0

| Oct snow inch =0.0

| Nov snow inch =1.0

| Dec snow inch =3.6

|unit snow days = 0.1 in

|Jan snow days = 4.3

|Feb snow days = 2.4

|Mar snow days = 1.4

|Apr snow days = 0.2

|May snow days = 0.0

|Jun snow days = 0.0

|Jul snow days = 0.0

|Aug snow days = 0.0

|Sep snow days = 0.0

|Oct snow days = 0.0

|Nov snow days = 0.6

|Dec snow days = 2.2

|source 1 = NOAA

{{cite web

|url = https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/services/data/v1?dataset=normals-monthly-1991-2020&stations=USC00129138&format=pdf&dataTypes=MLY-TMAX-NORMAL,MLY-TMIN-NORMAL,MLY-TAVG-NORMAL,MLY-PRCP-NORMAL,MLY-SNOW-NORMAL

|publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

|title = U.S. Climate Normals Quick Access – Station: Wabash, IN

|access-date = March 5, 2023

}}

|source 2 = National Weather Service

{{cite web

|url = https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=iwx

|publisher = National Weather Service

|title = NOAA Online Weather Data – NWS Northern Indiana

|access-date = March 5, 2023

}}

}}

File:Cortes del Condado de Wabash, Wabash, Indiana, Estados Unidos, 2012-11-12, DD 06.jpg

As of the census{{cite web|title=U.S. Census website|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=2012-12-11}} of 2010, there were 10,666 people, 4,465 households, and 2,805 families living in the city. The population density was {{convert|1199.8|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|1}}. There were 5,068 housing units at an average density of {{convert|570.1|/mi2|/km2|disp=preunit|units |units|}}. The racial makeup of the city was 96.3% White, 0.4% African American, 1.0% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.6% from other races, and 1.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.0% of the population.

There were 4,465 households, of which 29.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.7% were married couples living together, 12.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.2% were non-families. 32.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.88.

The median age in the city was 41.3 years. 22.5% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.7% were from 25 to 44; 26.4% were from 45 to 64; and 18.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.2% male and 52.8% female.

{{US Census population

|1850= 966

|1860= 1520

|1870= 2881

|1880= 3800

|1890= 5105

|1900= 8618

|1910= 8687

|1920= 9872

|1930= 8840

|1940= 9653

|1950= 10621

|1960= 12621

|1970= 13379

|1980= 12985

|1990= 12127

|2000= 11743

|2010= 10666

|2020= 10440

|footnote=Source: US Census Bureau

}}

As of the census of 2000, there were 11,743 people, 4,799 households, and 3,100 families living in the city. The population density was {{convert|1,319.0|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. There were 5,136 housing units at an average density of {{convert|576.9|/mi2|/km2|disp=preunit|units |units|}}. The racial makeup of the city was 96.85% White, 0.37% African American, 1.06% Native American, 0.51% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.41% from other races, and 0.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.46% of the population.

There were 4,799 households, out of which 29.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.6% were married couples living together, 11.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.4% were non-families. 30.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.95.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 24.3% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 22.9% from 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $12,000, and the median income for a family was $14000. Males had a median income of $18000 versus $12,000 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,210. About 7.9% of families and 9.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.5% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over.

File:20210223 08 Wabash, Indiana (50987177571).jpg

Opened on March 30, 1906, the Eagles Theatre was built as a vaudeville theatre. In the late 1920s it was remodeled by architect Alvin M. Strauss and had switched to movies by the 1930s. further remodeling was carried out in 1939 when it was redecorated in the Art Deco style. The Eagles Theatre has one of the largest screens remaining in Indiana and has 2 balconies and a ballroom. The Eagles Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

The Honeywell Center is a performing arts center located in downtown Wabash. Construction of the 45,000-square-foot-facilaity began in 1940 but was postponed until 1957. in 1997 a 75,000-square-foot addition included the 1,500-seat Ford Theater, Eugenia's Restaurant and an art gallery.

The Honeywell Corporation was founded in the 1880s in Wabash, Indiana and still maintains a strong presence in the small town. Wabash is home to The Ford Meter Box Company, a prominent manufacturer in the waterworks industry. Wabash is also home to many smaller companies. Papers industries Inc., Beacon Credit Union, Thermafiber, inc. The Metropolitan School District also employs many people (100 - 200)

The city's largest congregation is the United Methodist Church; other churches in the city include: Presbyterian, Church of the Nazarene, Catholic, Christian, Baptist, Wesleyan, and Pentecostal.

File:City Hall, Wabash, Indiana, view from northwest.jpg

The government consists of a mayor and a city council. The mayor is elected in citywide vote. The city council consists of 7 members with 5 elected from individual districts and two elected at-large. The current members of city council are:{{Cite web |title=City Council |url=http://www.cityofwabash.com/council/ |access-date=2023-11-29 |website=The City of Wabash, Indiana |language=en}}

• Bryan Dillion (R, AL)
• John Burnsworth (R, AL)
• David Weaver (R, 1st)
• Dave Monroe (R, 2nd)
• Terry Brewer (R, 3rd)
• Susan Bonfitto (R, 4th)
• Jan Roland (R, 5th)

The Wabash post office has been in operation since 1839.{{cite web |title=Wabash County |url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=IN&county=Wabash&searchtext=&pagenum=2 |access-date=July 12, 2016 |publisher=Jim Forte Postal History}}Hay, p. 26

File:Wabash Carnegie Public Library, Wabash, Indiana, three-quarter view.jpg

There are 2 universities within 20 miles of Wabash. The biggest and most notable being Manchester University which is based in North Manchester and Huntington University which is located in Huntington.

• OJ Neighbours Elementary School
• Meroby Elementary School
• St Bernard Elementary School
• Wabash Middle School
• Wabash High School

The town has a lending library, the Wabash Carnegie Public Library.{{cite web | url=https://www.in.gov/library/files/countyindex13.pdf | title=Indiana public library directory | publisher=Indiana State Library | access-date=15 March 2018}}

File:Cortes del Condado de Wabash, Wabash, Indiana, Estados Unidos, 2012-11-12, DD 01.jpg|Wabash County Courthouse

File:Wabash Indiana Paradise Springs Council Cabin.JPG|Paradise Spring Treaty Grounds (1826)

File:Wabash Indiana Old Warehouse Wabash n Erie Canal.JPG|Old Warehouse, which backs up on the Wabash and Erie Canal

File:Wabash Indiana Presbyterian Church.JPG|Presbyterian Church (1880)

File:Iglesia de Cristo, Wabash, Indiana, Estados Unidos, 2012-11-12, DD 01.jpg|Disciples of Christ Christian Church (1865)

Centro de Wabash, Indiana, Estados Unidos, 2012-11-12, DD 08.jpg|Former fire station and city hall.

• Michael Baber - music and sound editor
• Adelaide Steele Baylor - federal education official
• Loren M. Berry – pioneer of Yellow Pages telephone directory
• Rick Brandenburg – entomologist
• John W. Corso – art director and production designer{{cite book|last=Nunemaker|first=Jessica|title=Little Indiana: Small Town Destinations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1UNNCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA101|date=4 January 2016|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-02070-3|page=101}}
• John P. Costas - telecommunications engineer, noted for Costas loop
• James E. Dabler - Illinois state representative and businessman
• Jimmy Daywalt – race car driver
• Charles Dingle - actor
• Gus Dorais – football player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball
• Crystal Gayle - country singer
• Larry Hall - Serial killer
• Mark Honeywell – founder of Honeywell Corporation and Honeywell Center
• Howard A. Howe - polio researcher
• O. P. Hubbard - member of the Alaska Senate (1915–1919).{{cite web|title=O. P. Hubbard|publisher=Alaska State Legislature|access-date=March 15, 2021|url=https://akleg.gov/100years/bio.php?id=1179}}
• Bobby Jones – National Football League guard
• Joaquin Miller - poet and frontiersman{{Cite news|url = http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86091109/1906-11-10/ed-1/seq-4/|title = Lewiston evening teller. (Lewiston, Idaho), 10 Nov. 1906.}}
• George Mullin - Major League Baseball player
• Keith O'Conner Murphy - Rockabilly Hall of Fame singer and songwriter
• Margie Stewart - U.S. Army poster girl during World War II

• The Ford Meter Box Company, prominent manufacturer headquartered in Wabash

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.cityofwabash.com/ City of Wabash, Indiana website]

{{Wabash County, Indiana}}

{{County Seats of Indiana}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Cities in Indiana

Category:Micropolitan areas of Indiana

Category:Cities in Wabash County, Indiana

Category:County seats in Indiana

Category:1834 establishments in Indiana