Wabash

Formed January 1, 1824 (32^nd county)

Wabash County (11,361), Mount Carmel (7,005)

A tan/brown brick Modern style courthouse was built in 1960.  It is on Market at 4^th Street.  Market Street is Illinois State Highway 1 in this part of the town.  There was an 1881 courthouse also in Mount Carmel.  John L. Hagel is the architect.  The grounds feature veteran memorials.  Wabash County was created from Edwards County on January 1, 1824 as the 32^nd county.   Palmyra (1825), Centreville (1825), and Mount Carmel (1829) have all been the county seat.  The county is named for the river and the river’s name is Native American for “pure white.”  The county seat’s name is presumably from the Biblical mountain. 

Wabash County government consists of a sheriff, an attorney, a coroner, a clerk, a treasurer, and an assessor (executive).  It has 3 Board Members (legislative.)  Twenty-one Circuit Court Judges serve Wabash, Crawford, Edwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jefferson, Lawrence, Richland, Wayne, and White counties and a court clerk serves Wabash County (judicial.) The county is in southeast Illinois on the border with Indiana.  The Wabash River forms its eastern border.  Evansville, Indiana is southeast and Terre Haute, Indiana is northeast of the county.  The county center is 3.5 miles West-Northwest of Mount Carmel.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Lawrence County and Indiana and White, Edwards, and Richland counties. 

The area of the county is 223 square miles.  It is 98 out of 102 in the state.  It ranks 86 out of 102 in population in the state.  It has a density of 50.9 persons per square mile making it 46 out of 102 in the state.  Wabash County has 69.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  There are no Interstates or United States Highways in the county.  The county is shaped like a funnel flattened on the western side.  Mount Carmel is on the eastern border.  Mount Carmel is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 61.7% of the county population.

Mount Carmel