If These Walls Could Tell: Hotel Elkhart

Date and Time

• Sunday, Mar 30, 2025  4pm - 5:30pm

Location

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Details

In the early twentieth century, Hotel Elkhart proudly billed itself as “Northern Indiana’s Finest Hotel.” Fast forward nearly a century, and the landmark can claim the title once again, following a $19 million restoration by 500 Main, LLC. The transformation earned Indiana Landmarks’ 2024 Cook Cup for Outstanding Restoration, recognizing the project’s significant investment and impact on downtown Elkhart.

Though the city’s population was less than half its current size when Hotel Elkhart was built in 1923, the hotel remains the tallest downtown building, speaking to the community’s bold vision and hopes for the commerce the hotel would attract. The Elkhart Chamber of Commerce led efforts to construct the original 117-room hotel, as well as an addition in 1928 that nearly doubled it in size and included the Athenian Ballroom, an elegant venue for meetings, reunions, and receptions.

Hotel Elkhart accommodated many celebrities over the years including Bob Hope, Ed Sullivan, and Audie Murphy; it even served as the backdrop for Robert Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign. In the early 1970s, declining business prompted the hotel’s conversion to senior housing, and decades later, the building was a public safety concern. Multiple apartments had been condemned due to meth lab activity, the sprinkler system was nearly 50 years old, and an active water leak left a 30-foot hole in the ballroom’s plaster ceiling.

In October 2017, with renewed interest in revamping the core of downtown, Cressy Commercial Real Estate and Mno-Bmadsen, the non-gaming investment arm of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, joined forces as 500 Main, LLC to undertake a complete renovation of all 115,000 square feet of the historic hotel. The project created 93 guest rooms, two restaurants, a ballroom, meeting space, a rooftop bar, fitness rooms, and commercial laundry facilities, all meeting rigorous brand standards to become part of Hilton Hotels’ Tapestry Collection. Mechanical improvements include new elevators, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and sprinkler systems.

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