Elkhart, Indiana

City of Elkhart, Indiana
City
Main Street in downtown Elkhart
Nickname(s): The City with a Heart, Hart City, RV Capital of the World
Location in the state of Indiana
Coordinates: 41°40′59″N 85°58′08″W / 41.68306°N 85.96889°W / 41.68306; -85.96889Coordinates: 41°40′59″N 85°58′08″W / 41.68306°N 85.96889°W / 41.68306; -85.96889
Country	United States
State	Indiana
County	Elkhart
Government
• Mayor	Tim Neese (R)
Area
• Total	24.42 sq mi (63.25 km2)
• Land	23.45 sq mi (60.74 km2)
• Water	0.97 sq mi (2.51 km2)
Elevation	748 ft (228 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	50,949
• Estimate (2012)	51,152
• Density	2,172.7/sq mi (838.9/km2)
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP codes	46514, 46515, 46516, 46517
Area code(s)	574
FIPS code	18-20728
GNIS feature ID	0434079
Website	http://www.elkhartindiana.org/

Elkhart /ˈɛlkɑːrt/ is a city in Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. The city is located 15 miles (24 km) east of South Bend, Indiana, 110 miles (180 km) east of Chicago, Illinois, and 150 miles (240 km) north of Indianapolis, Indiana. Elkhart has the larger population of the two principal cities of the Elkhart-Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn is part of the South Bend-Elkhart-Mishawaka Combined Statistical Area, in a region commonly known as Michiana. The population was 50,949 at the 2010 census. Despite the shared name, it is not the county seat of Elkhart County; that position is held by the city of Goshen, located about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Elkhart.

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. Two years later, Dr. Havilah Beardsley moved westward from Ohio and 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. In 1839, the Pulaski Post Office was officially changed to Elkhart.

Elkhart County was founded exclusively by immigrants from New England. These were old stock "Yankee" immigrants, that is to say they were descended from the English Puritans who settled New England in the 1600s. The completion of the Erie Canal caused a surge in New England immigration to what was then the Northwest Territory. 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. New Englanders and New England transplants from upstate New York were the vast majority of Elkhart County's inhabitants during the first several decades of its history. These settlers were primarily members of the Congregational Church though due to the Second Great Awakening many of them had converted to Methodism and some had become Baptists before coming to what is now Elkhart County. The Congregational Church subsequently has gone through many divisions and some factions, including those in Elkhart County are now known as the Church of Christ and the United Church of Christ. As a result of this heritage the vast majority of inhabitants in Elkhart County, much like antebellum New England were overwhelmingly in favor of the abolitionist movement during the decades leading up to the Civil War. Correspondingly, many inhabitants of Elkhart County fought in the Union Army during the Civil War. In the late 1880s and early 1890s Irish and German migrants began moving into Elkhart County, most of these later immigrants did not move directly from Ireland and Germany, but rather from other areas in the Midwest where they had already been living, particularly the state of Ohio.