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    Elkhart County, Indiana

    Elkhart history and records

    County ElkhartFounded 1832City 1875

    Elkhart, 1861 and todayOn the valley map

    North Main St., Elkhart, Ind
    North Main St., Elkhart, Ind, 1915. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division

    Elkhart stands where the Elkhart River runs into the St. Joseph. Dr. Havilah Beardsley laid out the town in 1832 on the point between the two rivers, beside an older settlement and post office called Pulaski. It became a town in 1858 and a city in 1875, and a hydraulic canal built around 1870 turned the river into factory power. In 1874 Charles G. Conn began making cornet mouthpieces here, and Elkhart became the nation's band-instrument town.

    At a glance

    Founded
    platted by Havilah Beardsley, 1832; town, 1858; city, 1875
    Name
    Chapman's county history (1881) says Beardsley named the town Elkhart because the island at the meeting of the rivers was shaped so much like an elk's heart, and that the Pulaski post office later took the name. Scholars trace the name further back, to an elk's-heart place name recorded in French in the 1700s
    Water power
    "The hydraulic works of 1870 opened up a new era in the progress of the town," Chapman wrote in 1881; mills and factories lined the canal
    Band instruments
    C. G. Conn began making cornet mouthpieces in 1874, then brass instruments; Conn, Buescher, Selmer and others made Elkhart a national center of the trade
    Medicine
    Franklin Miles founded the Miles Medical Company here in 1884; it later made Alka-Seltzer
    County seat
    no; Goshen, ten miles up the Elkhart River, is the county seat of Elkhart County

    Worth a visit

    • Ruthmere (Albert R. Beardsley House)

      302 E. Beardsley Ave., Elkhart

      The Beardsley family mansion on the river, now a house museum with a fine-arts collection. National Register, 1978.

      Directions

    • Dr. Havilah Beardsley House

      102 W. Beardsley Ave., Elkhart

      The house of the founder's family, on the Ruthmere grounds and open with the museum. National Register, 2000.

      Directions

    • Lerner Theatre

      401 S. Main St., Elkhart

      The downtown theater, still a working stage. National Register, 1980.

      Directions

    • Elkhart Downtown Commercial Historic District

      Main St., roughly between E. Jackson St. and Tyler Ave., Elkhart

      The brick business blocks along Main Street. National Register, 1997.

      Directions

    Through the year

    Eat and stay

    More places to eat and stay in the valley ›

    Where the records are

    Deeds, probate and marriage records are kept by Elkhart County at Goshen, the county seat. The Elkhart Public Library keeps its local history collection on the second floor of the downtown library, with city directories, a searchable obituary index, a photo archive shared with Indiana Memory, and the Elkhart Truth archive. The Elkhart County Historical Museum, 304 W. Vistula St., Bristol, has a research library of photographs, diaries, family records and plat maps (appointments recommended). Chapman's History of Elkhart County (1881) and Deahl's Twentieth Century History (1905) both give the city long chapters.

    Sources

    Dates and names are from the county histories and official sources listed here. Where they disagree, we say so. Know better? Send a correction.

    The valley map Museums Find a grave or an obituary

    More towns: Mishawaka · Goshen · St. Joseph · Benton Harbor · Buchanan · Berrien Springs · Shipshewana