Downtown Wabash, Indiana

Alley Walk Sign

49 W Market Street, Wabash, IN 46992

Your tour begins outside Brooch Boutique on West Market Street, right at the corner of Market and the Alley Walk. Across the street you'll see the Tremont Parking Lot and Veteran's Plaza. This is the heart of downtown Wabash, where on March 31, 1880, over 10,000 spectators gathered to witness four Brush arc lights illuminate the courthouse dome — making Wabash the first electrically-lit city in the world.

Charles Brush

Inventor of the Arc Light

Head west on Market Street to Cass Street

Honeywell Center

West corner of Cass & Market Street, Wabash, IN 46992

One of Indiana's most popular performing arts centers, built during WWII and dedicated in 1952. Named for Mark C. Honeywell, the Wabash native whose heating innovations grew into a global empire. The center has drawn performers from Willie Nelson to the Beach Boys.

Mark C. Honeywell

Heating Pioneer & Industrialist

Head back east on Market Street to Miami Street, then turn right (south)

Modoc's Market & Charley Creek Inn

SE corner of Miami & Market Street, Wabash, IN 46992

Head back the way you came along Market Street until you reach Miami Street. As you turn south on Miami, you'll see Modoc's Market on the corner — a general store standing where Bradley Brothers Drug Store once stood, the very shop that Modoc the elephant ransacked for peanuts in 1942. Across stands the historic Charley Creek Inn, built in 1920 as Hotel Indiana.

Modoc

The Elephant Who Took Downtown

Crystal Gayle

Country Music Legend

Continue south on Miami Street to Canal Street

Canal Street

NE corner of Miami & Canal Street, Wabash, IN 46992

Continue south on Miami Street to Canal Street. Canal Street is named for the Wabash & Erie Canal — America's longest canal at roughly 460 miles, linking Lake Erie to the Ohio River. The canal transformed Wabash from a frontier settlement into a thriving town. Wabash itself was platted in 1834 on land ceded in the Treaty of Paradise Spring.

Turn left (east) on Canal Street to Wabash Street

Wabash & Canal

NW corner of Wabash & Canal Street, Wabash, IN 46992

Turn left (east) on Canal Street to Wabash Street. This area honors two remarkable Wabash natives. John P. Costas invented the Costas Loop that revolutionized modern telecommunications. Margie Stewart became the official U.S. Army poster girl during WWII, her image appearing on 94 million posters distributed to servicemen worldwide.

John P. Costas

Telecommunications Pioneer

Margie Stewart

Official U.S. Army Poster Girl

Turn left (north) on Wabash Street to Market Street

Market & Wabash

SE corner of Market & Wabash Street, Wabash, IN 46992

Turn left (north) on Wabash Street to Market Street. This stretch honors Loren M. Berry, born right here in Wabash in 1888. Berry became 'Mr. Yellow Pages,' founding L.M. Berry and Company and building it into a publishing empire that handled one out of every four telephone directories in America.

Loren M. Berry

Mr. Yellow Pages

Head back to Market Street, turn right (east) to Allen Street

Paradise Spring Historical Park

East corner of Allen & Market Street, Wabash, IN 46992

Head back south on Wabash Street to Market, then turn right (east) and walk to the corner of Allen Street. From here you can see Paradise Spring, known to the Miami and Potawatomi peoples as Ta Kincomaong — 'Running Water Place.' On October 26, 1826, 37 tribal leaders met 14 U.S. government representatives here to sign the Treaty of Paradise Spring, ceding land in northern Indiana and southern Michigan.

Turn back west on Market Street to the museum

Wabash County Museum

36 E Market Street, Wabash, IN 46992

Your tour ends at the Wabash County Museum. Head back the way you came (west) on Market Street to the museum near Miami Street. Home to the Crystal Gayle Theater and exhibits preserving the rich history of this remarkable small city, the museum houses one of the original 1880 Brush arc lights. Inside, you'll find the stories of Howard A. Howe, whose polio research at Johns Hopkins helped develop the vaccine that saved millions.

Howard A. Howe

Polio Vaccine Researcher

Crystal Gayle

Country Music Legend