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Wabash County
County seat: Mount Carmel
Named for the Wabash River
Wabash County covers 224 square miles and was founded in 1824
Village of Allendale -- Village of Bellmont -- Village
of Keensburg
Lancaster -- City of Mount Carmel
Wabash County Courthouse
P.O. Box 277
Mount Carmel, IL 62863-0277
Phone: (618)262-4561
From the Illinois Historical Encyclopedia, 1901:
WABASH COUNTY - situated in the southeast
corner of the state; area 220 square miles. The county was carved out from Edwards in 1824, and the first court
house built at Centerville, in May , 1826. Later, Mount Carmel was made the county-seat. The Wabash River drains
the county on the east; other streams are the Bon Pas, Coffee and Crawfish Creeks. The surface is undulating with
a fair growth of timber. The chief industries are the raising of live-stock and the cultivation of cereals. The
wool-crop is likewise valuable. The county is crossed by the Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis and the Cairo
and Vincennes Division of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railroads. Population in 1880 was
4,945. In 1890, 11,866; in 1900, 12,583.
MOUNT CARMEL - a city and the county-seat of Wabash County; is the point
of junction of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis and the Southern Railroads, 132 miles northeast
of Cairo, and 24 miles southwest of Vincennes, Ind; situated on the Wabash River, which supplies good water-power
for saw mills, flouring mills, and some other manufactures. The town has railroad shops and two daily newspapers.
Agriculture and lumbering are the principal pursuits of the people of the surrounding district. Population (1890),
3,376; (1900), 4,311.
