In 1917, Indiana University started offering courses in downtown Fort Wayne to 142 students in 12 courses. Twenty-four years later, Purdue University permanently established the Purdue University Center at a separate location in downtown Fort Wayne to provide a site for students to begin their undergraduate studies prior to transferring to the West Lafayette main campus to complete their degree. From 1958 to 1964, both universities began the process of combining the two extension centers into one joint university, known as
Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW). IPFW opened on September 17, 1964, following nearly two years of construction on a site northeast of downtown Fort Wayne. It awarded its first four-year degree in 1968. Eight years later, in 1976, IPFW absorbed the Fort Wayne Art Institute, an art school that had served the Fort Wayne community since 1897. After several years of talks between IPFW, Purdue, and IU, IPFW was divided into two universities on July 1, 2018:
Purdue University Fort Wayne and Indiana University Fort Wayne. The division moved all departments in the health sciences to Indiana University Fort Wayne and all others into Purdue University Fort Wayne. The Philosophy and Geosciences departments, however, were closed on January 1, 2017. ==Campus==