The most extensive study of the history of time zones in Indiana was published in The American Atlas (1997) by Thomas G. Shanks, where the author identifies 345 areas of the state with a different time zone history for each. In 1949, in a heated rural environment vs. Debate in the city, the Indiana General Assembly passed a law to put all of Indiana on central standard time and ban daylight saving time.
However, the law had no enforcement power, and communities that wanted to observe Eastern Standard Time largely ignored it. The Indiana General Assembly passed legislation to make central time the state's official time zone in 1957, but allowed any community to switch to daylight saving time during the summer. However, the law made it illegal for communities to observe fasting (that is,. Handley pledged to enforce the law by withdrawing state aid to communities that tried to observe the winter fast, although legal obstacles forced the governor to reverse his stance.
Indiana Time Zones - Are You in the Right Time Zone?
If you live in Indiana, you may be wondering if you're in the right time zone. While the state of Indiana does have several different time zones, you might be surprised to learn that you're probably in the wrong one. You could be in the Central Time Zone instead of the Eastern Time Zone.
Daylight-saving time
Whether you are new to the state or an Indiana native, you will be surprised to know that there are actually two time zones in the state. The first is the central time zone, which is used during daylight saving time. This is followed by the eastern time zone, which is used in the summer months.
As you travel around the state, you will notice that the cities and suburbs are in a different time zone than the state capitol. Several counties near the border switch between the two time zones.
There are eight counties that moved from the Eastern Time Zone to the Central Time Zone. These include Pike County, which moved in 1977. Some counties in the northwestern and southwestern parts of the state have not changed to the Central Time Zone.
In 2007, five counties in Indiana moved from the Central Time Zone to the Eastern Time Zone. Pulaski County moved back to the Eastern Time Zone on March 11, 2007. Earlier, Harrison County and Clark County moved from the Central Time Zone to the Eastern Zone.
Central time
Indiana is divided into two time zones, the Central Time Zone and the Eastern Time Zone. In the past, most towns in the state set their clocks to noon when the day began.
Some cities and counties favor fast time and others follow the same time zone year round. There are also a few communities that align with the Eastern time zone. However, most Hoosiers oppose double-fast time.
After the Uniform Time Act of 1966, Indiana became divided into two time zones. The eastern part of the state stayed on Eastern Time, with the exception of six counties in the northwest. This is because the sun reaches its highest point in the sky at noon four minutes later in the east.
Several counties petitioned to move to the Central Time Zone. They argued that they should be on the same time zone as their neighbors and that they have ties to those counties. During public hearings, several commissioners submitted letters in support of the petitions.
Daylight saving time in Indiana
For years, Indiana has been in a heated debate over daylight saving time. Some say that it is good for business, while others say that it is bad for the environment. Studies show that there is an increase in electricity usage in the state. Despite these studies, Indiana has not officially opted for year round DST.
It was only in 2006 that Indiana became the 48th state to observe Daylight Saving Time. In the spring, all Hoosiers will set their clocks forward one hour. They will also change their clocks back an hour in the fall. However, the question remains whether or not these changes will stick.
Although many counties in the state have officially shifted to Central Time, many communities have chosen to stay with Eastern Standard Time. Most counties in the northern and western portions of the state have remained in the Central time zone.
The Indiana General Assembly has fought over time zones for many years. Several counties chose to switch to different time zones in the late 1970s. But in the early 1990s, some counties in Eastern Indiana, including Starke County, decided not to observe Daylight Saving Time.
Economy depends on a more consistent timezone
If you've been living in Indiana for any length of time, you probably already know that there are two time zones in the state. While most of the state follows Eastern Standard Time, a small group of counties in the northern part of the state are on Central Time.
In the early 1970s, the Indiana General Assembly passed a law that placed the northern and western portions of the state in the Central Time Zone, while the rest of the state was in the Eastern Standard Time Zone. This meant that most of the state would be on the same time as the majority of the nation.
The decision to move the time zone boundary was controversial, however. Governor Whitcomb vetoed the bill, arguing that it would cause a conflict with surrounding states. Many lawmakers also fought the change. However, the General Assembly overrode Whitcomb's veto.
On the other hand, citizens in northwest and southwest Indiana were more inclined to the change. They said that more consistent time was a good thing for their businesses. For example, if businesses in Chicago were on the same time as their customers in Indianapolis, they could communicate at the same hour.
Once again, the law was not applicable and individual communities continued to observe the time zone of their choice. In 1961, the Indiana legislature repealed the 1957 law that made central time official Indiana time, allowing any community to observe daylight saving time. The Interstate Trade Commission divided Indiana between the central time zone and the eastern time zone. Even so, neither the time zone line nor daylight saving time were observed uniformly (see 50 FR 4374).
The United States Congress subsequently passed the Uniform Time Act of 1966 (Pub, L. Before the passage of this law, each state was authorized to decide this matter for itself. However, dividing the state into two time zones was inconvenient, which is why Governor Roger D. Branigin asked the USDOT to return all of Indiana to the central time zone a year later.
Over the next two years, the USDOT held several hearings in response to Governor Branigan's request. Citizens in northwestern and southwestern Indiana seemed to prefer the central time zone with the observance of daylight saving time, while those in other areas of the state favored the eastern time zone without observing daylight saving time. The USDOT decided to divide Indiana between the central time zone and the eastern time zone. Six counties near Chicago (Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Jasper, Newton and Starke) and six counties near Evansville (Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick, Spencer, Gibson and Pike) were located in the central time zone while respecting daylight saving time.
The rest of the state was placed in the Eastern Time Zone; the state received a special waiver to exempt parts of itself from daylight saving time. Most parts of the state that were in the Eastern Time Zone did not observe daylight saving time. However, Floyd, Clark and Harrison Counties, which are close to Louisville, Kentucky, and Ohio and Dearborn Counties, which are close to Cincinnati, Ohio, unofficially observed daylight saving time because of their proximity to major cities that observed daylight saving time. While the USDOT was considering where the time zone line should be, several broadcasting companies filed a federal lawsuit in 1968 to force the USDOT to enforce daylight saving time in Indiana, which they won.
As a result, the USDOT was ordered to stop informing Indiana residents that the Uniform Schedule Act would not apply and to provide a plan for its implementation (see Time Life Broadcast Company, Inc. Indiana 196. In 1972, the Indiana General Assembly overturned a veto by Governor Whitcomb to place the northwest and southwest corners of Indiana in the central time zone during daylight saving time and placing the rest of the state at Eastern Standard Time, subject to federal approval (see IC 1-1-8,. Indiana enacted the statute, officially placing northwest and southwest Indiana in the central time zone, in observance of daylight saving time, and the rest of the state in Eastern Standard Time throughout the year. Several counties in eastern Indiana (Ohio and Dearborn Counties, near Cincinnati; and Floyd, Clark and Harrison Counties, near Louisville) chose to unofficially observe daylight saving time, despite Indiana law.
Attitudes began to change in the 1990s, when Indiana's intricate time zone situation was considered to be impeding the state's economic growth. Interstate travel and commerce were difficult, as people wondered what time it is in Indiana. In 1991, Starke County requested the USDOT to move it from the central time zone to the eastern time zone for the third time. This time, the request was granted, with effect from October 27, 1991 (see 56 FR 13609 and 56 FR 5199).
Pulaski County returned to Eastern Time on March 11, when daylight saving time resumed. When standard time resumed on November 3, the five southwestern counties (Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin and Pike) returned to the Eastern Time Zone. A request from Perry County to move to the Eastern time zone was denied. The Decades-Old Indiana Time Zone Debate Remains Controversial.
Some argue that the entire state should switch to central time, while others would prefer that the state not observe daylight saving time again. Those who oppose putting the entire state in one time zone often cite out-of-state cities as their reason for opposition. For example, the counties of northwestern Indiana are part of the Chicago metropolitan area. Many residents travel to Chicago, which is Central Time.
The counties in the southeastern corner of the state are suburbs of cities such as Cincinnati, Ohio and Louisville, Kentucky, which observe Eastern Time. In the southwestern corner of the state, Evansville is the center of a three-state area that includes southern Illinois and western Kentucky (both in central time). Supporters of daylight saving time and a common time zone in Indiana often assert that Indiana must adopt the Eastern United States timing system to preserve interstate business with that region. Some believe that Indiana companies have wasted hours of productive time with colleagues from other states because the peculiarities of the weather are too confusing to keep track of on a daily basis.
The confusion caused to outsiders was prominent in the plot of an episode of The West Wing, in which presidential aides who were not familiar with Indiana's non-compliance with daylight saving time miss their flight back to Washington, DC, C. Indiana is covered by the following zones in the tz database:. The columns marked with * contain the data for the zone, tab. In the late 1940s, the use of daylight saving time, known as fast time, became popular in cities.
Indiana is officially in the central time zone, but some communities choose to follow the fast schedule throughout the year, essentially aligning themselves with the Eastern time zone. You may have already looked at a map and noticed that there are parts of Indiana in both Central Time and Eastern Time. It also might not seem like a big deal at all. After all, if you live in the Indy metropolitan area, it's in the same time zone as most of the rest of the state, then why would the other parts of the state that are three hours away from you affect you? Unfortunately, think again, because it can be confusing and at some point it will become confusing.
See current times in all cities and towns in Indiana. Mitch Daniels included daylight saving time in his economic plan, arguing that Indiana time was bad for the state's economy because companies outside the state couldn't keep track of the time in Indiana. In 1969, the Indiana General Assembly passed a bill that enacts the proposed model, pending congressional approval, but the governor. Whitcomb says the bill would cause Indiana's times to conflict with those of neighboring states, but is accused of siding with the television broadcast lobby (which wants program schedules to fit those on the East Coast).
But in 1985, the Indiana General Assembly, in Senate Concurrent Resolution 6 of 1985, called on the USDOT to move five southwestern Indiana counties (Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick, Spencer and Gibson) from the central time zone to the eastern time zone. For example, Evansville, Indiana, almost Indiana's southernmost city, is just a three-hour drive from Indianapolis, on I-69. The Indiana side of the area surrounding Chicago, known to Hoosiers residents as “The Region”, is also in central time. Daylight saving time detractors say that scientific studies evaluating the impact of the shift in hourly policy to daylight saving time in Indiana have identified a significant increase in energy use and electricity spending by Indiana households. The Department of Transportation is proposing a commitment in which most of Indiana would be in Eastern Standard Time throughout the year, while the Gary and Evansville areas would remain in Central Time and would follow the daylight saving time in summer.
Another notable observation is that schools in the Eastern Indiana time zone tend to have much more delays than 2 hours, mainly due to the fact that sunlight is required for many road de-icing components to work. The official dividing line has generally shifted progressively west from its original location on the Indiana—Ohio border, to a position that divides Indiana in half and, finally, to its current location along much of the Indiana—Illinois border. Another reason why Hoosiers struggle with the time zone difference is because, until recently, Indiana didn't recognize daylight saving time at all. .
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