When the Northwest Territory was organized in 1787, the area now known as Elkhart was mainly inhabited by the Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi Indian tribes.

In 1829, the Village of Pulaski was established, consisting of a post office, mill, and a few houses on the north side of the St. Joseph River.

Dr. Havilah Beardsley moved westward from Ohio, and on August 9, 1821, purchased one square mile of land from Pierre Moran (a half-French, half-Native American Potawatomi Chief) in order to establish a rival town named Elkhart.

The end of the Black Hawk War led to an additional surge of immigration, once again coming almost exclusively from the six New England states as a result of overpopulation combined with land shortages in that region.

Some of these later settlers were from upstate New York and had parents who had moved to that region from New England shortly after the Revolutionary War.

[7][8][9] By the late 19th and early 20th century, musical instrument factories, Miles Medical Company, and numerous mills set up shop and became the base of the economy.

Similar companies followed suit for the remainder of the decade, and the economy continued to grow until the rationing of materials in World War II.

"[10] In 1851, the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railroad Company built the first rail line through the city, and by 1852 the first passenger train passed through town.

Unfortunately, the hydraulics were prone to flooding as was common in those days, the wooden structures were eventually destroyed by fire.

[12] The hydraulics were purchased by the Indiana & Michigan Electric Company and they soon reconstructed the dam and by 1913, it powered the city.

[16] The name Elkhart is a deliberate misspelling or corruption of "Elks-heart", which refers to the now extinct Eastern elk.

[19] The name may reflect a prehistoric association of the Elkhart area with the Kaskaskia people, whom the Miami called "elk hearts".

[18] The Kaskaskia are not associated with the area in any historical records, however, having been pushed further south and west by the wars of the 17th century.

According to an account by two Miami leaders (Jean Baptiste Richardville and Le Gros) recorded in 1824, the name arose from two women fighting over an elk's heart that had been hung up to dry.

[20] Alternatively, some historians including Jacob Piatt Dunn have associated the name with the shape of an island in the Elkhart River that is stated to resemble an elk's heart.

[27] Due to its proximity to the South Bend metropolitan area, the city's commercial sectors are small.

[29] Other notable industries in Elkhart include; pharmaceuticals, electronic components, manufactured housing and mobile homes.

Numerous manufacturers of musical instruments and accessories, of which most of the surviving companies have been absorbed into the Conn-Selmer conglomerate, have a long history in the city.

Manufacturers in Elkhart include Forest River Inc, Hy-Line, Keystone, and Thor Motor Coach.

[citation needed] NIBCO INC. (Northern Indiana Brass Company), has called Elkhart home for over 100 years and is now a fifth-generation family business.

Elkhart's location on the railroad made it a good stopping point for shows traveling from New York to Chicago.

The Lerner Theatre, formerly the ELCO Performing Arts Center, is a small theater located downtown.

Ownership switched hands several times, but the end of the Lerner appeared to be in sight when owner William Miller died in 1987.

In January 2010, head coach and founder Daimon Beathea announced that the Express would return for the 2010 season, but those plans never came to fruition.

The city has 35 different facilities including parks, pavilions, a waterpark, a public pool, a softball complex, two skateparks, greenways, and the downtown riverwalk, which now features an ice-skating/roller-blading path (depending on the time of year).

Elkhart is also served by CBS affiliate WSBT-TV, based in Mishawaka, and six stations in South Bend: WNDU-TV (NBC), WNIT-TV (PBS), WHME-TV (LeSEA), WBND-LD (ABC), WCWW-LD (CW) and WMYS-LD (My Network TV).

Elkhart is located on the Indiana Toll Road (Interstates 80/90) at exits 92 and 96 and on the eastern portion of the St. Joseph Valley Parkway (U.S. Route 20) which bypasses the southern side of the city.

Both lines connect to their eastern destinations via Cleveland with one train offered for each direction on each route daily.

Elkhart is a central hub for the Interurban Trolley regional public bus service, which stops at various destinations throughout the city and connects it to neighboring Goshen, Osceola, Dunlap and Mishawaka.

The system's name is derived from its use of vintage-trolley-style buses that run between several different cities and towns, evoking the interurban train networks that were common in the United States during the first half of the 20th century.