[1] As of the 2000 United States Census,[6] there were 443 people, 183 households, and 116 families residing in the village.

[8] Prior to the forced expulsion of indigenous peoples from Illinois, a Kickapoo village was located at the grove.

Around 1822, James and Richard Latham built a horse mill at the foot of Elkhart Hill.

During the mill's existence, settlers came a great distance to get their grinding done and frequently camped overnight waiting their turn.

In later days, Abraham Lincoln, David Davis, John T. Stuart and others frequently spent the night at Elkhart Grove when traveling the 8th Judicial Circuit.

[12] A town site at Elkhart Grove had been laid out by early settler Aquilla Davis in the 1820s.

Once the tracks were laid, an old horse mill, owned by Seneca Woods, was brought from Springfield by William Mozee and converted into a warehouse.

J. R. Saunders also built a brick store and offered the first general stock of goods for sale in the town.

A small district school house was moved into the town in 1856, which gave way to a larger structure in 1865.

[15] The first officers were James Rigney, president; W. M. Helm, clerk; T. H. Cantrall, treasurer; L. D. Dana, justice; Martin Buzzard, constable; and A. H. Bogardus, street commissioner.

The nearby residence of the rancher John D. Gillett was destroyed by fire on February 14, 1871, although he rebuilt on the same site.

On May 24, 1889, lightning struck the Crang Building, which was occupied by the Hughes & Mendenhall General Store.

[16] In 1885, the town was incorporated as a village under the general laws of the state, relinquishing the special legislative charter.

[16] The first board under the new incorporation consisted of Henry Stahl, C. P. Bridges, A. H. Bogardus, C. B. Taylor, David Lippott and Luther Wood.

Elkhart was a station on the Illinois Traction System, an interurban railroad providing passenger service between Peoria and St. Louis that was built through the village in 1904.