Terre Haute Tourism Government Office

About Terre Haute

Terre Haute ( TERR-ə HOHT) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, only 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. Located along the Wabash River, Terre Haute is one of the largest cities in the Wabash Valley and is known as the Queen City of the Wabash. The city is home to multiple higher education institutions, including Indiana State University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana. == History == Terre Haute's name is derived from the French phrase terre haute (pronounced [tɛʁ ot] in French), meaning "highland." It was named by French-Canadian explorers and fur trappers to the area in the early 18th century to describe the unique location above the Wabash River (see French colonization of the Americas).