Wabash’s Founders Festival celebration will be held in downtown Wabash on Saturday, September 17th! In the United States many small towns and cities celebrate their founding days as well. The origins of founder’s days and festivals go back to 1782 when the United States, in response to Great Britain's expected acceptance of its defeat in the American Revolutionary War. Formed a proclamation that the reign of Great Britain was over and the United States could finally have their own government, even though the Treaty of Paris did not get ratified by Congress until 1784.
In Wabash, our Founders Festival is celebrated in September simply because the weather is better than in October. The town of Wabash was actually platted in the spring of 1834 by Col. Hugh Hanna and Col. David Burr. It later became the First Electrically Lighted City in the World on March 31, 1890.
One significant reason why the fall was selected may be that in October 1826, 196 years ago, the Treaty of Paradise Spring was signed between thirty-seven Miami and Potawatomi tribe leaders* and fourteen United States government representatives** who met at what is today Paradise Spring Historical Park but was then known as Ta Kincomaong (Running Water Place). The Miami and Potawatomi Indians ceded approximately 900,000 acres of land in exchange for much needed food, annuities, and education. The agreements opened northern Indiana and southern Michigan for settlement and paved the way for the construction of a canal that would run through Wabash.
To observe some living history at Paradise Spring Historical Park, which is just down the street from the Wabash County Museum, guests can stop in between 9 am and 5 pm during the Founders Festival on Saturday, September 17. Other living history events are listed on the PSHP board’s Facebook page.
*The 37 Miami and Potawatomi Tribe Leaders
Wau-wa-aus-see
La Gros
Seek
Meesequa
Osage
Metto-sa-nea
Nego-ta-kaup-wa
Chin-quin-sa
Cha-pine
Pe-che-wa
Little Wolf
Pun-ge-she-nau
Wonse-pe-au
Louis Godfroy
Un-e-cea-sa
Francis Lafontaine
She-qua-hau
Francois Godfroy
White Skin’s Son, or the Popular
Flat Belly
White Racoon
Black Loon
Nota-wen-sa’s son
La-from-broise
Little Beaver
Black Racoon
James Abbott
Lon-qua
Chin-go-me-shau
Little Sun
W. Shin-gan-leau
Joseph Richardville
Me-chaue-qua
Wau-no-sa
Charley’s Son
Ous-ane-de-aw
Chin-qua-keau
**The 14 United States Representatives
William Marshall
J.M. Ray
Jno. Ewing
James Gregory
Samuel Hanna
Martin Ray
Ben B. Kercheval
Joseph Barron
C.W. Ewing
George Hunt
William Conner
J.B. Boure
O.L. Clark
James Foster
For more information visit: https://www.wabashmuseum.org/foundersfest-schedule
About us: Paradise spring: Wabash, in. Paradise Spring - About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.paradisespring.org/about-us
Minor American revolution holidays. Wikipedia. (2022, August 23). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_American_Revolution_holidays