Where Does The Time Zone Change In Indiana

Summary of the fourth dimension zones used in Indiana

The U.Southward. land of Indiana is divided between Eastern and Primal time zones. The official dividing line has generally moved progressively due west from its original location on the Indiana–Ohio edge, to a position dividing Indiana down the middle, and finally to its current location along much of the Indiana–Illinois edge. In Apr 2006, several southwestern and northwestern counties reverted to Central time, although by tardily 2007 all just 2 had returned to Eastern time.

As much of Indiana is on the western borderland of the Eastern time zone, there was opposition from many in the state to observing daylight saving time in that location for decades.^[1] In 2005, the Indiana General Associates reached a decision to implement daylight saving time country-wide outset in Apr 2006.

Time zone division of Indiana [edit]

Indiana observes Eastern Fourth dimension, except for twelve of its 92 counties, which observe Central Time.^[2] Six of these counties are in northwestern Indiana, near Chicago (which observes Central Fourth dimension), and six are in southwestern Indiana, nearly Evansville, where the metro expanse includes portions of southeastern Illinois and western Kentucky, which likewise observe Fundamental Fourth dimension. The twelve counties are:

Northwestern Indiana (Chicago-Gary metropolitan area):
- Jasper
- Lake
- LaPorte
- Newton
- Porter
- Starke
Southwestern Indiana (Evansville Metro Expanse):
- Gibson
- Perry
- Posey
- Spencer
- Vanderburgh
- Warrick

Since Apr 2, 2006, all counties in Indiana observe daylight saving time.

Time zones [edit]

The virtually extensive report of time zone history in Indiana has been published in The American Atlas (1978) by Thomas G. Shanks, where the author identifies 345 areas in the country with a different time zone history for each.

The tz database lists xi time zones for Indiana, where each zone is defined as a geographic area that observed the same offsets from UTC since Jan one, 1970 (the UNIX epoch). The diagrams in this commodity are colored to evidence these 11 zones and a key is provided below.

History [edit]

Early on history [edit]

Before 1883 in the United States, most towns and cities fix their own local time to apex when the sun was at its highest point in the heaven. Since the sun reaches "high noon" four minutes later for every degree of longitude traveled towards the west, the time in every town was different. In Indiana, local hateful time varied from GMT-5:39 in the e to GMT-5:52 in the west. With the emergence of the railroads, hundreds of miles could be traveled in a much shorter time, causing a railroad train passenger to plainly experience several slight changes in time over the course of fifty-fifty a brusque rail trip. By 1883, the major railroads in the Usa agreed to coordinate their clocks and begin operating on "standard time" with four "time zones" established beyond the (then 38-state) nation, centered on the 75th, 90th, 105th, and 120th meridians west. On November eighteen, 1883, telegraph lines transmitted GMT to major cities, where each city was to arrange their official time to their proper zone.^[iii] The state capital in Indianapolis lies at approximately the 86th meridian (U.S. Census Bureau), closer to the center of the Central Time Zone at the 90th meridian than the center of the Eastern Fourth dimension Zone at the 75th pinnacle.

Time zones were starting time adopted by the U.s.a. Congress with the Standard Time Act of 1918. All of Indiana was located in the Central Time Zone. It was at this time the dividing line betwixt Eastern Time and Central Time was moved from the Pennsylvania-Ohio state line to the Indiana–Ohio state line. Daylight saving time (DST) was included in the original Standard Time Human action. A year afterward, Congress repealed daylight saving time from the Standard Fourth dimension Human activity of 1918, though some communities continued to follow information technology.^[3] During World War II, daylight saving time was once again mandated by Congress to conserve energy. Subsequently the war, the mandate to observe daylight saving fourth dimension was lifted again.^[3]

In 1949, in a heated rural vs. city contend, the Indiana Full general Associates passed a law to put all of Indiana on Cardinal Standard Fourth dimension and to outlaw daylight saving time. However, the police had no enforcement ability, and it was largely ignored by communities who wanted to observe Eastern Standard Time.^[3] The Indiana General Assembly passed a law to make Central Fourth dimension the official time zone of the state in 1957, simply permitted whatsoever customs to switch to daylight saving time during the summer. The constabulary did, nevertheless, make it illegal for communities to notice "fast time" (i.e., daylight saving time) during the wintertime months. Governor Harold W. Handley vowed to enforce the law by withdrawing state aid from communities who attempted to observe "fast time" during the winter, though legal obstacles forced the Governor to back down from his stance. Once once again, the law was non enforceable, and individual communities continued to observe whichever time zone they preferred.^[3]

1961–1967. In 1961, The Interstate Commerce Commission divided Indiana between the Eastern and Central Time Zones. The new fourth dimension zone line was never uniformly observed.

From 1967 to 1977, six counties in the northwest nigh Chicago and half dozen southwest counties in and around Evansville, observed DST in the Cardinal Fourth dimension Zone. The other 82 counties were in the Eastern Fourth dimension Zone and did not observe DST; however, six counties near Louisville, Kentucky; and Cincinnati, unofficially observed DST.

1960s [edit]

In 1961, the Indiana legislature repealed the 1957 law making Central Fourth dimension the official time of Indiana, which allowed any community to observe DST.^[3] The Interstate Commerce Commission divided Indiana between the Central Time Zone and the Eastern Time Zone. Withal, neither the time zone line nor daylight saving fourth dimension were uniformly observed (see 50 FR 43745). The Us Congress later passed the Compatible Time Deed of 1966 (Pub.L. 89–387 April 13, 1966; 80 Stat. 107–108; 15 UsaC. §§ 260–267) to specify where and when daylight saving time was applied in the U.Due south., and potency was shifted to the Usa Department of Transportation (USDOT). Prior to the passing of this law, each state was permitted to decide this issue for itself. Having the state split in two time zones was inconvenient, even so, and so Governor Roger D. Branigin petitioned the USDOT to identify all of Indiana back in the Central Time Zone a year later.

Over the adjacent ii years, the USDOT conducted several hearings in response to Governor Branigan's petition. Citizens of northwest and southwest Indiana appeared to favor the Cardinal Time Zone with observance of DST, while those from other areas of the state favored the Eastern Fourth dimension Zone with no observance of DST. The USDOT chose to divide Indiana between the Central Time Zone and the Eastern Time Zone. Six counties well-nigh Chicago (Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Jasper, Newton, and Starke) and six counties almost Evansville (Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick, Spencer, Gibson, and Superhighway) were placed in the Central Time Zone with observance of DST. The remainder of the state was placed in the Eastern Time Zone; the state was given special dispensation to exempt parts of itself from DST. Most portions of the land that were in the Eastern Time Zone did non observe DST. However, Floyd, Clark, and Harrison counties, which are almost Louisville, Kentucky; and Ohio and Dearborn counties, which are nigh Cincinnati, Ohio unofficially observed DST due to their proximity to those major cities that observed DST.

While the USDOT was because where the time zone line should be, several broadcast companies filed a federal lawsuit in 1968 to compel the USDOT to enforce the observance of daylight saving time in Indiana, which they won. Equally a event, the USDOT was ordered to end informing Indiana residents that the Compatible Time Human activity will not exist enforced and to provide a plan for its enforcement (see Time Life Broadcast Company, Inc. v. Boyd , 289 F. Supp. 219 (S.D. Indiana 1968).; Fourth dimension Life being the so-owner of WFBM-TV (Channel 6) in Indianapolis).

In 1972, the Indiana General Assembly overrode a veto from Governor Whitcomb to place the Northwest and Southwest corners of Indiana in the Central Fourth dimension Zone on daylight saving time, and to place the residue of the state on Eastern Standard Fourth dimension, upon federal approval (run across IC one-1-viii.one ). Congress approved an subpoena (Pub.L. 92–267;86 Stat. 116) to the Uniform Time Act of 1966 to permit a state that lay in two time zones to exempt part of the country from daylight saving fourth dimension, and President Richard Nixon signed it into constabulary. Indiana enacted the statute, officially placing northwest and southwest Indiana in the Primal Time Zone, in observance of daylight saving fourth dimension, and the rest of the state in the Eastern Standard Time throughout the year. Several eastern Indiana counties (Ohio and Dearborn counties, near Cincinnati; and Floyd, Clark, and Harrison counties, near Louisville) chose to unofficially notice daylight saving time, despite the Indiana statute.

1977–1991. In 1977, Pike County in the southwest moved from Key Time to Eastern Time, and did not detect DST.

1991–2006. In 1991, Starke County in the northwest received approval to move to Eastern Time, and did not find DST.

County petitions [edit]

Throughway County asked the USDOT to motility it from the Central Fourth dimension Zone to the Eastern Time Zone in 1977; the request was approved. Iv years afterwards, Starke County asked the USDOT to move it from the Central Fourth dimension Zone to the Eastern Time Zone; in this case, however they did not find a audio reason for the move, and declined the request (see 46 FR 23500 and 46 FR 51786). But in 1985, the Indiana General Assembly, in Senate Concurrent Resolution 6 from 1985, asked the USDOT to movement five counties in southwest Indiana (Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick, Spencer, and Gibson) from the Central Time Zone to the Eastern Time Zone. They denied the request, finding that the modify would not serve the convenience of commerce (come across 50 FR 25856, 50 FR 28959, and l FR 43745). By 1986–87, Jasper County, forth with Starke County, which was making a time zone alter request for the 2nd fourth dimension in 4 years, petitioned the USDOT to move them from the Central Fourth dimension Zone to the Eastern Time Zone in 1987–89. They denied the petitions of both counties (see 51 FR 43644 and 52 FR 10119).

Attitudes began to modify in the 1990s, equally Indiana's convoluted time zone situation was seen as impeding the land'south economic growth. Interstate travel and commerce were difficult as people wondered, "what time is it in Indiana?"^[four] In 1991, Starke Canton petitioned the USDOT to move it from the Cardinal Time Zone to the Eastern Time Zone for the third time. This fourth dimension, the petition was granted, constructive October 27, 1991 (see 56 FR 13609 and 56 FR 51997).

On April 29, 2005, with heavy backing from Governor Mitch Daniels' economical development program, and afterwards years of controversy, the Indiana General Assembly passed a constabulary stating that, effective April 2, 2006, the unabridged state of Indiana would go the 48th country to notice daylight saving time. The beak was also accompanied by Senate Enrolled Human activity 127,^[5] which required Governor Daniels to seek federal hearings from the USDOT on whether to go on Indiana on Eastern Fourth dimension with New York City and Ohio or whether to motion the entire land back to Central Time with Chicago.^[three]

2006–March 2007. On Apr 2, 2006, ii northwestern counties (Starke and Pulaski) and six in the southwest (Knox, Daviess, Martin, Pike, Dubois, and Perry) returned from Eastern Time to Primal Time, and the entire land officially observed DST.

March 2007, to Nov 2007. On March 11, 2007, Pulaski County in the northwest returned to Eastern Time.

On November 4, 2007, 5 southwestern counties (Knox, Daviess, Martin, Motorway, and Dubois) returned to Eastern Time. Perry and Starke counties remained in Central Time.

2006 [edit]

As a result of a review by the USDOT, eight counties were moved from the Eastern Time Zone to the Key Time Zone, constructive Apr 2, 2006. These were Starke and Pulaski counties in the northwest and Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin, Perry, and Pike counties in the southwest.

The placement of Martin Canton into the Central Time Zone, while leaving adjoining Greene and Lawrence Counties in the Eastern Time Zone presented a item problem for Naval Surface Warfare Eye Crane, a large The states Navy base that straddles all three counties. With the Eastern/Central dividing line running through the base, NSWC Crane was unable to fully comply with the realigned time zones. The base opted to recognize Cardinal Time, since the portion in Martin County was larger than the portions in Greene and Lawrence combined. This decision presented a larger regional problem, for fifty-fifty though NSWC Crane is Martin County's largest employer, two-thirds of the base's employees alive in Greene, Lawrence, Monroe, and other Eastern Time Zone counties. This meant that the vast bulk of Crane's employees would live in one time zone but work in another. Furthermore, a business park nether construction at Crane'due south west gate would also straddle the new dividing line, with businesses on one side of the street being in a different time zone from those on the other. After one twelvemonth under this bad-mannered system, Martin County reconsidered their bid to exist placed in the Central Time Zone and formally petitioned for a return to the Eastern Time Zone.^[6]

Contained from the situation facing Martin County, Pulaski County also formally petitioned for a return to the Eastern Fourth dimension Zone. Pulaski County Commissioners and Canton Council both voted unanimously on Feb 6, 2006, to declare home dominion and stay on Eastern Time if a federal agency did not grant an appeal to modify the time zone ruling. Nevertheless, the county conceded on March 27, 2006, officially accepting Central Time and switching time zones on April 2, 2006.^[7] After some residents pledged to unofficially keep observing Eastern Time, the county inverse work hours for nigh canton employees and so that they were in sync with Eastern Fourth dimension work hours.^[8] Dubois, Daviess, Knox, and Throughway counties besides decided to ask the federal government to render them to the Eastern Time Zone, and Dubois did then on April 27, 2006.^[9] The confusion involving the time status of these counties led to their beingness dubbed the "seesaw six." St. Joseph, Marshall, and Fulton counties overtly expressed involvement in making another attempt to be changed to Central Time as of the stop of 2006.^[10] ^[eleven]

2007 [edit]

Pulaski County returned to Eastern Time on March 11, the date when daylight saving time resumed.^[12] When standard time resumed on November 3, the five southwestern counties (Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin, and Expressway) returned to the Eastern Time Zone. A petition from Perry Canton to move to the Eastern Time Zone was denied.^[13]

With the exception of Perry and Starke counties, all counties that were moved to the Key Time Zone in 2006 were moved back to the Eastern Time Zone in 2007.

Controversy [edit]

The decades-long Indiana fourth dimension zone debate remains controversial. Some argue that the entire land should move to Fundamental Time, while some others would prefer to take the state return to the non-observance of DST.^[14] ^[ane]

With a big agricultural heritage, many farmers oppose DST because their days are controlled by the sunday, non the clock. Farmers are often dependent on younger workers whose parents desire them dwelling past dinner, and when the sun is upward later in the evening, farmers miss out on recreational activities that but happen late. When the sun is still upwards at nine to nine:30 p.m., the farmer is however in the field, while others have been off work for hours.^[xiv]

Opponents of putting the entire country on ane time zone frequently cite out-of-state cities as their reason of opposition. For example, counties in Northwestern Indiana are part of the Chicago metropolitan expanse. Many residents commute to Chicago, which is on Central Time. Counties in the southeastern corner of the state are suburbs of cities such equally Cincinnati, Ohio, and Louisville, Kentucky, which both detect Eastern Time. In the southwestern corner of the country, Evansville serves as the key hub of a tri-state area that includes southern Illinois and western Kentucky (both on Fundamental Time).

Supporters of daylight saving fourth dimension and a common fourth dimension zone in Indiana often claim Indiana must adopt the fourth dimension-keeping system of the Eastern United States to preserve interstate business with that region. Some believe that Indiana businesses accept lost hours of productive time with out-of-state colleagues because the time quirks are too confusing to proceed track of on a daily basis.^[15] The defoliation caused to outsiders featured prominently in the plot of an episode of The West Wing in which presidential aides unfamiliar with Indiana's non-observance of DST miss their return flight to Washington, D.C., on Air Strength 1 and express consternation with the variances in the state's time measurement.^[sixteen]

Detractors of daylight saving time claim that scientific studies assessing the bear on of the time policy modify to DST in Indiana have identified a pregnant increase in free energy usage and spending on electricity past Indiana households. Indiana households paid an additional $8.6 million in electricity bills according to University of California, Santa Barbara economics professor Matthew Kotchen and Ph.D. student Laura Grant,^[17] while supporters of Daylight Saving Fourth dimension betoken to studies such as Professor Kotchen, the Department of Transportation and organizations such as the California Energy Commission claim that the United States saves approximately 1% of energy when Daylight Saving Fourth dimension is being observed.^[xviii]

Another contraction in the issue is the unnatural geographic location of this Eastern-Time-Zoned region. In the western Indiana counties where Eastern time is observed (S Bend and Lafayette south to Terre Haute and Vincennes), around the summer solstice, the sunday neither sets until after nine:20 p.grand., nor does it reach solar noon until nigh two:00 p.thousand.^[19] During the winter months when standard fourth dimension is observed, school buses in western regions lose a valuable 60 minutes of the sun'due south rays as they pick upward children in the morning. Another notable observation is that schools in the Eastern Time Zone of Indiana tend to have far more than 2-60 minutes delays, mainly due to the fact that sunlight is required for many road de-icing components to work. With the sun rising as late as 8:twenty a.m. in some areas, available sunlight is inadequate to safely thaw the roads for school buses to pick upward all their passengers on time. The argument is that if the same area were in its geographically natural Cardinal time zone, the sun would be up an hour sooner, and it would take an additional hour to thaw the roads every morning.^[20] ^[21]

Central Time Coalition [edit]

One group that believes Indiana should exist on Central Fourth dimension with DST is the Central Fourth dimension Coalition formed in 2009. The group's stated reasons for restoring Central Time to Indiana includes the following claims:

All of Indiana is geographically situated in the Central Time Zone, every bit divers by the line of longitude of 90 degrees west, with the natural eastern border of the fourth dimension zone being 82 degrees 30 minutes longitude west, running east of Columbus, Ohio.
There is a significant toll to education, in terms of lost hours of education due to one and ii-hour school delays.
Since Indiana's adoption of Eastern Time, at that place has been an increase in vehicle accidents.
Indiana's teen suicide charge per unit is higher than the national average.

tz database [edit]

Counties grouped past zones as defined in the tz database

Indiana is covered by the following zones in the tz database. Columns marked with * contain the information from zone.tab.

c.c.*	coordinates*	TZ*	comments*	UTC commencement	DST	Location and counties within Indiana	Notes
US	+394606−0860929	America/Indiana/Indianapolis	Eastern - IN (virtually areas)	−05:00	−04:00	East of the 1961 divide: (all unlisted counties) Westward of the 1961 divide: N: Saint Joseph, Marshall, Fulton, Cass, Miami, Howard, Tipton NW: Benton, Warren, White, Tippecanoe, Carroll, Clinton W: Montgomery, Fountain, Parke, Vigo, Clay, Sullivan, Greene, Owen, Vermillion, Putnam S: Monroe, Brownish, Bartholomew, Lawrence, Jackson, Orange, Washington
US	+410305−0863611	America/Indiana/Winamac	Eastern - IN (Pulaski)	−05:00	−04:00	N West: Pulaski
Us	+382931−0871643	America/Indiana/Petersburg	Eastern - IN (Pike)	−05:00	−04:00	S West: Pike
US	+384038−0873143	America/Indiana/Vincennes	Eastern - IN (Da, Du, K, Mn)	−05:00	−04:00	S Due west: Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin
US	+382232−0862041	America/Indiana/Marengo	Eastern - IN (Crawford)	−05:00	−04:00	S W: Crawford
U.s.	+381515−0854534	America/Kentucky/Louisville	Eastern - KY (Louisville area)	−05:00	−04:00	Southward East: Clark, Floyd, Harrison	only part of the zone is in Indiana
US	+384452−0850402	America/Indiana/Vevay	Eastern - IN (Switzerland)	−05:00	−04:00	South E: Switzerland
The states	+404251−0740023	America/New_York	Eastern (most areas)	−05:00	−04:00	South East: Dearborn, Ohio	only role of the zone is in Indiana
US	+415100−0873900	America/Chicago	Central (nigh areas)	−06:00	−05:00	North W, near Chicago: Jasper, Lake, LaPorte, Newton, Porter South West, near Evansville: Gibson, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh, and Warrick	but part of the zone is in Indiana
Usa	+411745−0863730	America/Indiana/Knox	Central - IN (Starke)	−06:00	−05:00	Due north West: Starke
United states	+375711−0864541	America/Indiana/Tell_City	Central - IN (Perry)	−06:00	−05:00	S West: Perry

References [edit]

^ ^a ^b Campbell, Alex (March 10, 2022). "Some Pine for Different Time in Indiana". The Indianapolis Star. Archived from the original on December 1, 2022. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
^ http://world wide web.in.gov/portal/files/TimeZones.pdf Archived 2007-09-22 at the Wayback Auto Retrieved 2022-01-01
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ¹⁰⁰⁰ "A Brief History of Fourth dimension (in Indiana)" (Press release). The Indianapolis Star. April 30, 2005. Archived from the original on September 25, 2022. Retrieved November fifteen, 2007.
^ "What Time is it in Indiana?". Monroe Canton Customs School Corporation. Archived from the original on Nov 18, 2006. Retrieved November 25, 2006.
^ "Senate Bill 0127". Land of Indiana. Archived from the original on January ane, 2005. Retrieved November 25, 2006.
^ "Martin County Rescinds Time Zone Change Determination". Within Indiana Business. March fifteen, 2006. Archived from the original on February 29, 2022.
^ Coyne, Tom (March 28, 2006). "Pressured, Pulaski shifts to Cardinal". Southward Curve Tribune. Archived from the original on June 13, 2006. Retrieved November 25, 2006.
^ Coyne, Tom (Apr i, 2006). "Some counties resisting zone modify". S Curve Tribune. Archived from the original on June xiii, 2006. Retrieved November 25, 2006.
^ "Dubois wants Eastern fourth dimension". S Bend Tribune. April 28, 2006. Archived from the original on June thirteen, 2006. Retrieved November 25, 2006.
^ Smith, Mike (August 22, 2006). "Fourth dimension debate just keeps ticking on (office 1)". The South Bend Tribune. pp. B1. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
^ Smith, Mike (August 22, 2006). "Time debate (part 2)". The South Curve Tribune. pp. B2. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
^ "49 CFR Role 71 [OST Docket No. 2006–26442] RIN 2105–AD65 Standard Time Zone Purlieus in Pulaski County, IN" (Press release). United States Department of Transportation. February nine, 2007. Archived from the original on September 25, 2022. Retrieved Feb nineteen, 2007.
^ Corbin, Bryan (September 21, 2007). "5 Counties to Return to EST: Perry County petition is denied". Evansville Courier & Press . Retrieved October 25, 2006.
^ ^a ^b Clewly, Robin (March 31, 2001). "What time is the noon meeting?". Wired.
^ Davey, Monica (November 13, 2005). "A time-honored contend in Indiana: to spring forward, autumn dorsum or neither". The New York Times . Retrieved November 25, 2007.
^ Maureen Groppe. "'President' to tackle Indiana time zone issue," Greater Lafayette Periodical and Courier, September 15, 2002.
^ Lahart, Justin (Feb 27, 2008). "Daylight saving wastes energy, written report says". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved April 1, 2008.
^ Daylight Saving Time – Saving Time, Saving Energy Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
^ Laboratory, US Department of Commerce, NOAA, World Organization Research. "NOAA ESRL Global Monitoring Sectionalization".
^ Shatz, Amy (October 19, 2005). "Primal, not eastern! Indiana sports guy tackles time zones; after Daylight Saving shift, Mr. Sagarin asks Hoosiers to go on sync with sun". The Wall Street Periodical (Eastern Edition). New York, NY. Pg. A1.
^ "Hoosiers for Central Fourth dimension".

External links [edit]

Indiana Fourth dimension Zone Map 13 KB PDF file is a graphical overview of what counties are on Central and Eastern Time Zones in the State of Indiana.