Written and composed by American songwriter Paul Dresser, it was published by the Tin Pan Alley firm of Howley, Haviland and Company in October 1897.

The lyrics of the ballad reminisce about life near Dresser's childhood home by the Wabash River in Indiana, United States.

Dresser's inability to control the distribution of phonograph cylinders led him and his company to join other composers to petition the United States Congress to expand federal copyright protections over the new technology.

The ambiguity of United States copyright laws at the time and the poor management of Dresser's estate left the song vulnerable to plagiarism.

[1][n 1] Dresser’s boyhood home was near land adjacent to the Wabash River, the primary internal waterway in the state of Indiana.

[1][2] In 1893 Dresser joined Howley, Haviland and Company, a Tin Pan Alley music publisher based in New York City, as a silent partner.

[1] While he occasionally returned to Terre Haute for performances and brief visits, Dresser's songs and letters to his friends often reminisced about Indiana and his childhood home.

[6] The second verse of "Wabash" contains reference to "Mary", but Dresser told a reporter that the name was "fictitious" and used only for "rhythmical purposes", and denied that the inspiration for the name came from a girl he once courted in his youth.

[7][8] When asked what led him to write the song Dresser said, "The same sweet memory that inspired that other Hoosier, James Whitcomb Riley, to sing of the 'Old Swimmin' Hole' ...

[1][10][11] It is believed that Dresser began "Wabash" in New York City in April 1897; continued working on it in May, when he was on vacation at West Baden Springs, Indiana; and completed the ballad in Chicago, while staying at the Auditorium Hotel in the summer of 1897.

[16] Using the nationwide network of music distribution controlled by Tin Pan Alley, Dresser's publishing company was able to have the song well advertised, which pushed sales on a large scale.

"[1] One example attesting to the widespread popularity of Dresser's song occurred in June 1900, when the lighting failed at the Coney Island arena during a prize fight between Terry McGovern and Tommy White.

[1][20] By the end of 1898 Dresser reported that nearly one million copies of sheet music would soon be sold, making "Wabash" a "sensation", the "great hit of the day.

"[21] In a newspaper interview for The Indianapolis Star, Dresser said, "I can't tell you just how much I have cleared off of the song, but the $50,000 estimate I have seen in some papers is very modest.

[32] On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away[29] (Verse) Round my Indiana homestead wave the cornfields, In the distance loom the woodlands clear and cool.

A year after the song was published Dresser's brother Theodore, who later became a famous novelist, privately claimed to have authored its lyrics.

Already a controversial figure because of his open support for communism and tendency to make negative comments about his home state, Theodore's claims were ridiculed in many papers and by prominent Hoosiers who dismissed it as a hoax.

It is possible that Theodore did give his brother the idea for the song, and may have even authored a portion of the lyrics, some of which reflect his writing style.

[8] Furthermore, the melody of the Moscow Nights by Solovyov-Sedoi, well-known in Russia, resembles On the Banks of the Wabash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w9NPAWFGyI Dresser died penniless after his publishing business failed.

[39] Maurice Richmond Music, who purchased the bankrupt company's copyrights, gave Ballard MacDonald and James Hanley permission to use two bars from Dresser's ballad in a song they published in 1917.

Under Theodore's guidance, Dresser's estate accused Hanley of plagiarism and threatened to bring a suit against Paull-Pioneer Music Corporation, the publisher of "Back Home Again in Indiana".

Despite lengthy discussions, no action was ever taken to resolve the dispute, largely due to the ambiguous nature of U.S. copyright laws in the early 20th century and the estate's lack of finances.

[45] The lyrics consisted of a verse lamenting the dead from the explosion of the USS Maine, a second hoping to avoid the draft, and a third criticizing and ridiculing the war.

Howley, Haviland and Company published the song, giving Sterling credit for the words, but paying royalties to Dresser for use of the melody.

The Swedish lyrics describe emigration from Sweden to the United States and was made popular by cabaret and revue artist Ernst Rolf, who had one of his first major hits with the song.