My Hometown: Wabash, Indiana

Wabash is a small farming town in the upper N.E. area of Indiana. We are about fifty miles S.W. of a bigger city, Fort Wayne. In the city alone, the population is about eleven thousand, (2010 census) if you include the county, the population is about thirty-five thousand. It was settled as a city in 1835, and our claim to fame is being the first electrically-lighted city in the world, and that was in March of 1889. More on the history of the city in later articles. Wabash, the city, is not home of Wabash College. That is about a hundred miles S. W. from here, in a city called Crawfordsville, Indiana.

We have a rich Native American history, when the Miami and Pottawatomie shared the bulk of the land. There are many different architecture homes scattered throughout the city. The downtown area is the historical part of town. We even have our own up-scale Inn, Charlie Creek Inn, that is fast becoming well-known regionally.

The Wabash River goes through town. It used to be the best fishing hole in the county, but after years of dumping, it's no longer recommended to "go fishing" at the river. During the summer, they still have a few river-based event's. There is a canoe race, a duckie race for the kid's. You can even still enjoy an afternoon picnic on the banks of the river in town.

The entertainment place to be, is The Honeywell Center. They have a seasonal variety of big-name entertainment. They also have a couple of small art shows during the year, featuring local and state-wide artist's. Eugenia's Restaurant in the Honeywell Center, is one of the places to eat in town. You'll think your eating at a fancy ritzy big-city restaurant once you've visited Eugenia's. The restaurant is named after Mrs. Eugenia Honeywell, 2^nd wife of Mark Honeywell, the founder of the Honeywell company that is today, world-renowned for it thermostats and other heating equipment.

During the summer, the city and county are abuzz with activity. Weekend festivals go on throughout the summer all over the county. The highlight of the summer now is the 4-H County fair. Up until a couple years ago, the highlight of the summer was Canal Days, Canal Day Parade and the Strawberry Fest, all back to back. Sadly, those are no longer on the summer list of things to do in Wabash County.

But there's still plenty of things around to do and see here, in this list of area festivals.

So whether your coming to Wabash for business or pleasure...or just passing through to somewhere else, make it a point to stop on your way through and take in the sights and sounds of our small town ways.