Wapella, Illinois

City: Wapella

County: De Witt

State: Illinois

Lat/Long: 40.2167, -88.9500

Wapella, Illinois, is a village in DeWitt County. Situated four miles north of Clinton, Wapella and the surrounding area began to attract Euro-American settlers in the 1820s. David A. Neal, vice president of the Illinois Central Railroad, laid out the village in 1854, naming it for Wapella (Little Bird), a Meskwaki (Fox) leader in the 1820s and 1830s. The U.S .Post Office Department established a post office in the village in April 1855.

Edward Callary, Place Names of Illinois (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2009), 364.