Elkhart University

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Elkhart University was founded in 1882 in Elkhart, Indiana. Elkhart University specialized in a curriculum of medical and dental laboratory technologies. During its many years of existence it became one of the preeminent proprietary institutions of its kind in the United States, producing graduates to staff clinical and hospital laboratories throughout the Midwest and beyond. The enrollment at EU never exceeded 150 full time students allowing the school to maintain a student/teacher ratio of 25 to 1.

EU was fully accredited by the Indiana Commission for Post Secondary Proprietary Education, and graduates of the medical laboratory technology curriculum were eligible to take the American Medical Technologist Registry examination. The medical curriculum consisted of eighteen months of formal classroom instruction, after which the technician was required to serve a six month internship in an approved clinical laboratory.The dental technician curriculum required twelve months, (1440 clock hours), formal training. Some of the graduates from the dental technology department, which is a true art form unto itself, went on to develop and perfect revolutionary new procedures that are being used by dental labs across the country.

The main campus building was a large Victorian four story structure located at 516 S. Main St. in Elkhart, where it remains today. Although it has been lowered to three floors, it retains much of the early character. The laboratories were situated in buildings adjacent to the main, and the largest of those is now non-extant. In the 1960s EU purchased and maintained two dormitory houses very near the school.

Memories of the old lecture rooms that had a charm only time could create, gave the students a feeling of belonging to a fine institution that had always been, and would always be. In the 1930s, 40s' and 50s' there was the Phi Theta Pi Fraternity at EU. For many years the school also maintained a student council which planned activities. The laboratories were supplied with the newest apparatus and reagents available, but the rooms themselves had that same old warmth that made you want to delay graduation. The Ames Division of Miles Laboratories, located at Elkart, frequently donated newly developed physiological chemistry testing products and standard laboratory supplies to the university. This helped keep the most modern techniques introduced to the students.

The founder of the University was Dr. H. A. Mumaw. In 1917 Dr. Mumaw sold the school to Mr. Ira Elliot who would serve as its president until 1938. At that time Mr. Harvey B. Elliot assumed the office and his term was from 1938 to 1961. In that year, Mr. J. Richard Miller began a long presidency which lasted until 1985. Subsequent to Mr. Miller’s administration, it was under the direction of Mr. D. Letsche when in December 1986 the students went home for Christmas break, and due to insurmountable financial difficulties, the school never reopened.

Elkhart University closed in 1986. The only known existing repository of information regarding the old school remains in the Elkhart Public Library Archives. The facts listed were gleaned from Elkhart Truth newspaper clippings provided by the archives, The C.O.P.E. Directory of Defunct Institutions, The Indiana State Library, "Elkhart University Collection P31), and interviews with past students provided by Dr. Robert Mohr Wyndham, alumnus.