Fort Wayne, Indiana

Allen County, Indiana

The St. Joseph and St. Marys meet here to form the Maumee, and a short portage west reaches the Wabash system, Lake Erie on one side, the Mississippi and the Gulf on the other. Little Turtle, speaking at Greenville in 1795, called this place “that glorious gate… through which all the good words of our chiefs had to pass from north to south and from east to west.” Every era below is a consequence of that geography. (The Myaamia Center publishes four different primary versions of that speech and discusses why they differ, the citation standard this record follows.)

106 sections
1,813 entry pages
1,156 dated events

Start here

Aerial view of Concordia College, Fort Wayne. Tichnor Brothers postcard. Public domain · source file

Churches & Religion

The City of Churches

Fort Wayne calls itself the City of Churches, and for once the civic nickname understates the record. This section is that record: every congregation and faith institution the sources support, in the…

Read Churches & Religion →

Colleges & Universities

The colleges and universities in the Fort Wayne record. Each links to its place on the Schools & Colleges page.

Fort Wayne Female College — Fort Wayne College — Taylor UniversityCollege · 1846 – 1893 (in Fort Wayne)In Schools & Colleges · full entry
Concordia Theological SeminarySeminary · 1846 – 1861 in Fort Wayne; returned 1976 – presentIn Schools & Colleges · full entry
Concordia College (the gymnasium)College · 1861 – 1957 (in Fort Wayne)In Schools & Colleges · full entry
Fort Wayne College of MedicineMedical college · 1879 – 1905 (a first medical college ran 1876–1883)In Schools & Colleges · full entry
International Business CollegeBusiness college · 1889 – 2020In Schools & Colleges · full entry
University of Saint FrancisUniversity · 1890 (in Fort Wayne from 1944) – presentIn Schools & Colleges · full entry
The hospital nursing schoolsNursing schools · 1897 – 1991 and afterIn Schools & Colleges · full entry
Fort Wayne Bible College — Taylor University Fort WayneCollege · 1904 – 2009 (in Fort Wayne)In Schools & Colleges · full entry
Purdue University Fort Wayne and Indiana University Fort Wayne (IU Extension, Purdue Center, IPFW)Public university · 1917 – presentIn Schools & Colleges · full entry
Indiana TechUniversity · 1930 – presentIn Schools & Colleges · full entry
Concordia Senior CollegeCollege · 1957 – 1977In Schools & Colleges · full entry
Ivy Tech Fort WayneCommunity college · 1969 – present (state system founded 1963)In Schools & Colleges · full entry
Trine University in Fort WayneUniversity (Fort Wayne center) · 1990s – presentIn Schools & Colleges · full entry
Manchester University Fort WayneUniversity (Fort Wayne campus) · 2012 – presentIn Schools & Colleges · full entry
Huntington University in Fort WayneUniversity (Fort Wayne programs) · present dayIn Schools & Colleges
The proprietary colleges that closedProprietary colleges · 2016 – 2017In Schools & Colleges

The record, by topic

Origins

The ground, the rivers, the first peoples and the city's whole story.

Government & Population

Who governed, who served, and how many lived here.

Business & Industry

Companies, owners, banks, factories, inventions and fortunes.

Transportation

Rail, streetcar and bus, airfields and the great roads.

People & Communities

The people of Fort Wayne and the communities they built.

Black History

The first community of the city that followed the fort.

Events

The days the city gathered and changed: the events calendar and the major events.

Military

Wars, the home front, veterans, armories and those who served.

Crime & Justice

Crime, robberies, murder cases and cold cases.

Schools, Churches & Civic Life

Churches and religion, schools, hospitals, libraries, museums, charities and lodges.

Landmarks & Neighborhoods

Landmarks, buildings, maps, parks and neighborhoods.

Arts, Media & Sports

Teams, music, stage, comedy, screen, press, books, fashion and honors.

Food & Nightlife

Where the city ate, drank, stayed, shopped and went out.

Nature & Trails

Wildlife, nature preserves and the trail network.

Legends & Mysteries

Folklore, oddities, ghost stories, sightings and famous stories set beside the record.

Today & Sources

The city now, and the sources behind every page.

Maps & images

Griswold's bird's-eye view of the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana…

Bird's eye view of the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1868 (A. Ruger…

Manuscript map of Fort Wayne, said to have been made on July 18…

Map of Allen County, Indiana, drawn by Samuel Morrison, 1875.

Sanborn fire insurance map of Fort Wayne, March 1885, one sheet of…

All maps and images →

Every section, in reading order

Fort Wayne in its county and state

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Cite this page

Using this page? Copy a credit line. Last updated November 10, 2026.

Source: Fort Wayne, Indiana, Moosed History by Project Moosed, https://history.projectmoosed.com/usa/midwest/indiana/fort-wayne/

@misc{moosed-fort-wayne,
  title        = {{Fort Wayne, Indiana}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://history.projectmoosed.com/usa/midwest/indiana/fort-wayne/}},
  organization = {Project Moosed},
  note         = {Moosed History. Last updated 2026-11-10. Accessed 2026-11-10},
  year         = {2026}
}