Goshen Historic District, listed on the NRHP in Elkhart County, Indiana

Goshen Historic District is a protected area in downtown Goshen covering about 45 blocks with more than 750 buildings dating between 1840 and 1930. The structures display Italianate and Queen Anne styles with brick facades, tall windows, and ornamental details arranged in a grid pattern along tree-lined streets.

The district was officially designated in 1983 and preserves buildings from a period of population growth and economic change in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Elkhart County Courthouse built in the 1870s stands at the center and marks the architectural evolution of this era.

The name Goshen comes from the biblical land where the Israelites settled in Egypt. On the streets, look for shop signs carved into the buildings: the Kindy Block corner at Main and Washington has housed Newell's ladies' wear store since 1881, and the Harper Block parapet still reads "Harper Block, 1888", recalling the boot and shoe business it was built for.

The district is a rectangular street grid bounded on the north, east and south by major roads, with a 19th-century canal forming the western edge. South of Monroe Street, Main Street bends southeast to run roughly parallel to that canal, so orientation shifts there. The Elkhart County Courthouse square sits near the centre of town.

At the corner of Lincoln and Main stands an octagonal stone pillbox built in the Depression era, with bulletproof glass, pistol ports and a revolving machine-gun cupola on top. It was put up to deter highwaymen such as John Dillinger on Goshen's two main highways. It now serves minor administrative duties.