Indiana

For other uses, see Indiana (disambiguation).

Indiana
State
Country	United States
Admitted to the Union	December 11, 1816 (19th)
Capital	Indianapolis
Largest city	Indianapolis
Largest metro and urban areas	Indianapolis-Carmel MSA
Government
• Governor	Mitch Daniels (R) (2004)
• Upper house	{{{Upperhouse}}}
• Lower house	{{{Lowerhouse}}}
U.S. senators	Richard Lugar (R) Evan Bayh (D)
Population
• Total	6,080,485
• Density	169.5/sq mi (65.46/km2)
Language
• Official language	English
Latitude	37° 46′ N to 41° 46′ N
Longitude	84° 47′ W to 88° 6′ W

The State of Indiana (/ˌɪndiˈænə/) is the 19^th U.S. state and is located in the midwestern region of the United States of America. With about 6.3 million residents, it is ranked 15^th in population and 17^th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38^th in land area.

Indiana is a diverse state with a few large urban areas and a number of smaller industrial cities. It is known nationally for its professional sports teams, the Indianapolis Colts, champions of the 2007 NFL Super Bowl, the NBA Indiana Pacers and for the Indianapolis 500 motorsports race, the largest single-day sporting event in the world that is held annually over the Memorial Day weekend, and for a strong basketball tradition, often called Hoosier Hysteria.

Residents of Indiana are called Hoosiers. Although many stories are told, the origin of the term is unknown. The state's name means "Land of the Indians", or simply "Indian Land". The name dates back to at least 1800, when Indiana Territory was created, at which time the territory was unceded Indian land. Angel Mounds State Historic Site, one of the best preserved prehistoric Native American sites in the United States, can be found in south-western Indiana near Evansville.

Geography

See also: Geography of Indiana, List of counties in Indiana, List of Indiana rivers, and Watersheds of Indiana

Indiana state welcome sign

Indiana is bounded on the north by Lake Michigan and the state of Michigan; on the east by Ohio; on the south by Kentucky, with which it shares the Ohio River as a border; and on the west by Illinois. Indiana is one of the Great Lakes states.

The northern boundary of the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois was originally defined to be a latitudinal line drawn through the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan. Since such a line would not provide Indiana with usable frontage on the lake, its northern border was shifted ten miles (16 km) north. The northern borders of Ohio and Illinois were also shifted from this original plan.

The 475 mile (764 km) long Wabash River bisects the state from northeast to southwest before flowing south, mostly along the Indiana-Illinois border. The river has given Indiana a few theme songs, such as On the Banks of the Wabash, The Wabash Cannonball and Back Home Again, In Indiana. The Wabash is also the longest free-flowing river east of the Mississippi; 400 miles (640 km) from the Huntington dam to the Ohio River. The White River (a tributary of the Wabash, which is a tributary of the Ohio) zigzags through central Indiana.

There are 24 Indiana state parks, nine man-made reservoirs, and hundreds of lakes in the state. Areas under the control and protection of the National Park Service or the United States Forest Service include:

• George Rogers Clark National Historical Park in Vincennes
• Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore near Michigan City
• Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City
• Hoosier National Forest in Bedford

Northern Indiana

The northwest corner of the state is part of the Chicago metropolitan area and has nearly one million residents. Gary, and the cities and towns that make up the northern half of Lake, Porter, and La Porte Counties bordering on Lake Michigan, are effectively commuter suburbs of Chicago. Porter and Lake counties are commonly referred to as "The Calumet Region", or "The Region" for short. The name comes from the fact that the Grand Calumet and Little Calumet rivers run through the area. These counties are all in the Central Time Zone along with Chicago. NICTD owns and operates the South Shore Line, a commuter rail line that runs electric-powered trains between South Bend and Chicago. Sand dunes and heavy industry share the shoreline of Lake Michigan in northern Indiana. Along the shoreline of Lake Michigan in Northern Indiana one can find many parks between the industrial areas. The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and the Indiana Dunes State Park are two natural wonders of the area.

Most of northern and central Indiana is flat farmland dotted with small cities and towns, such as North Manchester.

The Kankakee River, which winds through northern Indiana, serves somewhat as a demarcating line between suburban northwest Indiana and the rest of the state.

The South Bend metropolitan area, in north central Indiana, is the center of commerce in the region better known as Michiana. Fort Wayne, the state's second largest city, is located in the northeastern part of the state where it serves the state as a transportation hub.

Northeastern Indiana is home to a number of lakes, many of which are the remains of the glaciers that covered Indiana thousands of years ago. Some of these lakes include Lake James in Pokagon State Park, Lake Maxinkuckee, Lake Wawasee and Lake Tippecanoe. Lake Wawasee is the largest natural lake in Indiana, while Lake Tippecanoe is the deepest lake, reaching depths of over 120 feet. Both lakes are located in Kosciusko County. Chain O' Lakes State Park, located in Noble County, contains 11 lakes, 8 of which are connected by natural channels.

Central Indiana

The state capital, Indianapolis, is situated in the central portion of the state. It is intersected by numerous Interstates and U.S. highways, giving the state its motto as "The Crossroads of America". Other cities and towns located within the area include Anderson, Avon, Beech Grove, Bloomington, Brownsburg, Carmel, Castleton, Clermont, Columbus, Crawfordsville, Cumberland, Danville, Fishers, Franklin, Greenwood, Greenfield, Homecroft, Kokomo, Lafayette, Lawrence, Lebanon, Mooresville, Muncie, Plainfield, Richmond, Southport, Speedway, Terre Haute, West Lafayette, and Zionsville.

Rural areas in the central portion of the state are typically composed of a patchwork of fields and forested areas. The geography of Central Indiana consists of gently rolling hills and sandstone ravines carved out by the retreating glaciers. Many of these ravines can be found in west-central Indiana, specifically along Sugar Creek in Turkey Run State Park and Shades State Park.

Southern Indiana

Evansville, the third largest city in Indiana, is located in the southwestern corner of the state. It is located in a tri-state area that includes Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. The south-central cities of Clarksville, Jeffersonville, and New Albany are part of the Louisville metropolitan area. Vincennes, the oldest city in the state, is located on the Wabash River.

Southern Indiana is a mixture of farmland, forest and very hilly areas, especially near Louisville and in the south central lime hills areas. The Hoosier National Forest is a 200,000 acre (80,900 ha) nature preserve in south central Indiana. Southern Indiana's topography is more varied than that in the north and generally contains more hills and geographic variation than the northern portion, such as the "Knobs," a series of 1,000 ft (300 m). hills that run parallel to the Ohio River in south-central Indiana. Brown County is well-known for its hills covered with colorful autumn foliage, T.C. Steele's former home, and Nashville, the county seat and shopping destination. Harrison and Crawford Counties boast three of the state's most popular commercial caves at Wyandotte, Marengo, and Squire Boone Caverns.

Indiana State House; Indianapolis, IN; Built with Southern Indiana Limestone

The limestone geology of Southern Indiana has created numerous caves and one of the largest limestone quarry regions in the USA. Many of Indiana's official buildings, such as the State capitol building, the downtown monuments, the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis, many buildings at Indiana University in Bloomington, and the Indiana Government Center are all examples of Indiana architecture made with Indiana limestone. Indiana limestone has also been used in many other famous structures in the US, such as the University of Illinois' Memorial Stadium, the Empire State Building, the Pentagon, and the Washington National Cathedral. In addition, 35 of the 50 state capitol buildings are also made of Indiana Limestone.

For sixty years, from 1890 to 1950, the United States Census found the center of population to lie in southern Indiana.

Climate

Most of Indiana has a humid continental climate (Koppen climate classification Dfa), with hot, humid summers and cool to cold winters. The extreme southern portions of the state border on a humid subtropical climate (Koppen Cfa) with somewhat milder winters. Summertime maximum temperatures average around 85 °F (29 °C) with cooler nights around 60 °F (16 °C). Winters are a little more variable, but generally cool to cold temperatures with all but the northern part of the state averaging above freezing for the maximum January temperature, and the minimum temperature below 20 °F (-8 °C) for most of the state.The state receives a good amount of precipitation, 40 inches (1,000 mm) annually statewide, in all four seasons, with March through August being slightly wetter.

The state does have its share of severe weather, both winter storms and thunderstorms. While generally not receiving as much snow as some states farther north, the state does have occasional blizzards, some due to lake effect snow. Two major paralyzing snowstorms bear merit. The January, 1978 Blizzard, which affected almost the entire state, and the December, 2004 Blizzard, which primarily affected the Ohio Valley and later caused the severe flooding of the White, Wabash, and the Ohio Rivers in January, 2005. The state averages around 40-50 days of thunderstorms per year, with March and April being the period of most severe storms. While not considered part of Tornado Alley, Indiana is the Great Lakes state which is most vulnerable to tornadic activity. In fact, three of the most severe tornado outbreaks in U.S. history affected Indiana, the Tri-State Tornado of 1925, the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965 and the Super Outbreak of 1974. The Evansville Tornado of November 2005 killed 25 people, 20 people in Vanderburgh County and 5 in Warrick County.

Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures for Largest Indiana Cities
City	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Evansville	40/23	45/26	56/35	67/44	77/54	86/64	89/68	86/64	81/57	70/45	56/36	44/27
Fort Wayne	31/16	35/19	47/29	60/38	72/49	81/59	84/62	82/60	75/53	63/42	48/33	36/22
Indianapolis	34/18	40/22	51/32	63/41	74/52	82/61	86/65	84/63	77/55	66/44	52/34	39/24
South Bend	31/16	36/19	47/28	59/38	71/48	80/58	83/63	81/61	74/53	62/42	48/33	36/22
Source: US Travel Weather

History

The area of Indiana has been settled since before the development of the Hopewell culture (ca. 100–400 CE). It was part of the Mississippian culture from roughly the year 1000 up to 1400. The specific Native American tribes that inhabited this territory at that time were primarily the Miami and the Shawnee. The area was claimed for New France in the 17th century, handed over to the Kingdom of Great Britain as part of the settlement at the end of the French and Indian War, given to the United States after the American Revolution, soon after which it became part of the Northwest Territory, then the Indiana Territory, and joined the Union in 1816 as the 19th state. Indiana fought on the Union side during the American Civil War and prohibited slavery. See also Northwest Indian War.

Pioneer Era

On June 29, 1816, Indiana adopted a constitution, and on December 11, 1816, became the 19th State to join the Union.

Indiana filled up from the Ohio River north. Migration, mostly from Kentucky and Ohio, was so rapid that by 1820 the population was 147,176, and by 1830 the sales of public lands for the previous decade reached 3,588,000 acres (5,600 sq mi; 14,500 km²) and the population was 343,031. It had more than doubled since 1820. The first state capital was in the southern Indiana city of Corydon.

Transportation

Down the Mississippi and its tributaries (the Ohio and Wabash) was to be found the sole outlet for the increasing produce of the Middle West, whose waters drained into the great valley. Districts which were not upon streams navigable by even the lightest draught steamboat were economically handicapped. The small, flat boat was their main reliance. Roads suitable for heavy carriage were few up to the middle of the century. The expense and time attending shipment of merchandise from the east at that time were almost prohibitive. To meet this condition, the building of canals (espoused by the constitution of 1816) was long advocated, in emulation of Ohio which took example after New York State. In 1826, Congress granted a strip two and a half miles wide on each side of the proposed canal. A very extensive and ambitious scale of main and lateral canals and turnpikes was advocated in consequence.

Work began on the Wabash and Erie Canal in 1832, on the Whitewater Canal in 1836, on the Central in 1837. Bad financing and "bad times" nearly wrecked the whole scheme; yet, the Wabash and Erie Canal was completed from Toledo to Evansville. It was a great factor in the development of the state, although it brought heavy loss upon the bondholders with the advent of the railroad. Upon completion, the canal actually increased prices of farm products three or fourfold and reduced prices of household needs 60%, a tremendous stimulus to agricultural development. By 1840, the population of the upper Wabash Valley had increased from 12,000 to 270,000. The canal boat that hauled loads of grain east came back loaded with immigrants. In 1846, it is estimated that over thirty families settled every day in the state.

Manufacturing also developed rapidly. In the ten years between 1840 and 1850, the counties bordering the canal increased in population 397%; those more fertile, but more remote, 190%. The tide of trade, which had been heretofore to New Orleans, was reversed and went east. The canal also facilitated and brought emigration from Ohio, New York, and New England, in the newly established counties in the northern two-thirds of the state. Foreign immigration was mostly from Ireland and Germany. Later, this great canal fell into disuse, and finally was abandoned, as railway mileage increased.

In the next ten years, by 1840, of the public domain 9,122,688 acres (14,250 mi²; 36,918 km²) had been sold. But the state was still heavily in debt, although growing rapidly. In 1851 a new constitution (now in force) was adopted. The first constitution was adopted at a convention assembled at Corydon, which had been the seat of government since December, 1813. The original statehouse, built of blue limestone, still stands; but in 1821, the site of the present capital, Indianapolis, was selected by the legislature. It was in the wilds, sixty miles from civilization. By 1910, it was a city of 225,000 inhabitants, and was the largest inland steam and electric railroad center in the United States that was not located on a navigable waterway. No railroad reached it before 1847.

Demographics

Indiana Population Density Map

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1800	2,632		—
1810	24,520		831.6%
1820	147,178		500.2%
1830	343,031		133.1%
1840	685,866		99.9%
1850	988,416		44.1%
1860	1,350,428		36.6%
1870	1,680,637		24.5%
1880	1,978,301		17.7%
1890	2,192,404		10.8%
1900	2,516,462		14.8%
1910	2,700,876		7.3%
1920	2,930,390		8.5%
1930	3,238,503		10.5%
1940	3,427,796		5.8%
1950	3,934,224		14.8%
1960	4,662,498		18.5%
1970	5,193,669		11.4%
1980	5,490,224		5.7%
1990	5,544,159		1.0%
2000	6,080,485		9.7%
2006 (est.)	6,313,520

As of 2006, Indiana had an estimated population of 6,313,520, which is an increase of 47,501, or 0.8%, from the prior year and an increase of 233,003, or 3.8%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 196,728 people (that is 541,506 births minus 344,778 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 51,117 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 68,935 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 17,818 people.

The center of population of Indiana is located in Hamilton County, in the town of Sheridan. Population growth since 1990 has been concentrated in the counties surrounding Indianapolis, with four of the top five fastest-growing counties in that area: Hamilton, Hendricks, Johnson, and Hancock. The other county is Dearborn County, which is near Cincinnati.

The Evansville Area has experienced a shift in their population. Evansville continues to lose population as of 2005 while Vanderburgh has continued to grow by at least 3% a year. The other counties of the Evansville Area of Southwestern Indiana have started to grow at an increasingly faster rate, especially Gibson and Warrick Counties who are becoming Evansville's suburban counties. Gibson County has seen at least two towns Haubstadt and Fort Branch starting to become "Bedroom Communities" like Newburgh and Chandler in Warrick County. In addition, the two counties have seen their minority (in particular, Asian, African-American, and Hispanic) populations just about double in the last 15 years.

Demographics of Indiana (csv)

By race	White	Black	AIAN*	Asian	NHPI*
2000 (total population)	90.13%	8.91%	0.65%	1.21%	0.08%
2000 (Hispanic only)	3.31%	0.15%	0.07%	0.03%	0.02%
2005 (total population)	89.57%	9.42%	0.63%	1.44%	0.08%
2005 (Hispanic only)	4.29%	0.19%	0.08%	0.04%	0.02%
Growth 2000–05 (total population)	2.51%	8.99%	-0.26%	23.11%	11.31%
Growth 2000–05 (non-Hispanic only)	1.33%	8.68%	-2.87%	22.97%	9.77%
Growth 2000–05 (Hispanic only)	33.38%	26.82%	21.02%	28.42%	16.70%
* AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native; NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

As of 2005, the total population included 242,281 foreign-born (3.9%).

German is the largest ancestry reported in Indiana, with 22.7% of the population reporting that ancestry in the Census. Persons citing "American" (12.0%) and English ancestry (8.9%) are also numerous, as are Irish (10.8%) and Polish (3.0%).

Religion

Although the largest religious denomination in the state is Roman Catholic, the state is predominantly various Protestant denominations. A study by the Graduate Center found that 20% are Roman Catholic, 14% are Baptist, 10% are other Christians, 9% are Methodist, and 6% are Lutheran. The study also found that 16% are secular.

The state is home to the University of Notre Dame and also has a strong parochial school system in the larger metropolitan areas. Southern Indiana is the home to a number of Catholic monasteries and one of the two archabbeys in the United States, St. Meinrad Archabbey. Two conservative denominations, the Free Methodist Church and the Wesleyan Church, have their headquarters in Indianapolis as does the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches maintains offices and publishing work in Winona Lake. Huntington serves as the home to the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. Anderson is home to the headquarters of Church of God Ministries and Warner Press Publishing House. Fort Wayne is the headquarters of the Missionary Church. Fort Wayne is also home to one of The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod's seminaries - Concordia Theological Seminary. The Friends General Conference of the Religious Society of Friends, the largest American Quaker Yearly Meeting, is based in Richmond. Richmond also houses the oldest Quaker seminary in the US, the Earlham School of Religion. The Islamic Society of North America is headquartered just off Interstate 70 in Plainfield, west of Indianapolis.

In 1906, the Census reported there were 938,405 members of different religious denominations; of this total, 233,443 were Methodists (210,593 of the Northern Church); 174,849 were Roman Catholics, 108,188 were Disciples of Christ (and 10,219 members of the Churches of Christ); 92,705 were Baptists (60,203 of the Northern Convention, 13,526 of the National (African American) Convention; 8,132 Primitive Baptists, and 6,671 General Baptists); 58,633 were Presbyterians (49,041 of the Northern Church, and 6,376 of the Cumberland Church—since united with the Northern); 55,768 were Lutherans (34,028 of the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference, 8,310 of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio and other states), 52,700 were United Brethren (48,059 of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ; the others of the " Old Constitution ") and 21,624 of the German Evangelical Synod.

Cities and towns

30 Largest Cities	2005 Population
Indianapolis	784,118
Fort Wayne	223,341
Evansville	115,918
South Bend	105,262
Gary	98,715
Hammond	79,217
Bloomington	69,017
Muncie	66,164
Lafayette	60,459
Carmel	59,243
Anderson	57,500
Fishers	57,220
Terre Haute	56,893
Elkhart	52,270
Mishawaka	48,497
Kokomo	46,178
Greenwood	42,236
Lawrence	40,959
Columbus	39,380
Noblesville	38,825
Richmond	37,560
Portage	36,789
New Albany	36,772
Michigan City	32,205
Merrillville	31,525
Goshen	31,269
East Chicago	30,946
Marion	30,644
Valparaiso	29,102
Jeffersonville	28,621

Indianapolis is the capital of Indiana, near the geographic center of the state. Other Indiana cities functioning as centers of United States metropolitan areas include Anderson, Bloomington (home of Indiana University's main campus), Columbus, Elkhart, Evansville (home of University of Evansville and University of Southern Indiana), Fort Wayne (home of Concordia Theological Seminary), Gary (home of Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore), Kokomo, Lafayette (adjoining West Lafayette, home of Purdue University), Michigan City, Muncie (home of Ball State University), South Bend (home of University of Notre Dame), and Terre Haute (home of Indiana State University and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology).

Map of Indiana

Indiana cities that function as centers of United States micropolitan areas include Angola, Auburn, Bedford, Connersville, Crawfordsville, Decatur, Frankfort, Greensburg, Huntington, Jasper, Kendallville, Logansport, Madison, Marion, New Castle, North Vernon, Peru, Plymouth, Richmond, Scottsburg, Seymour, Vincennes,Wabash, Warsaw, and Washington.

Other communities with populations of 10,000 or more include Beech Grove, Brownsburg, Carmel, Chesterton, Clarksville, Connersville, Crawfordsville, Crown Point, Dyer, East Chicago, Fishers, Franklin, Goshen, Greencastle, Greenfield, Greenwood, Griffith, Hammond, Highland, Hobart, Jasper, Jeffersonville, Lake Station, La Porte, Lawrence, Lebanon, Martinsville, Merrillville, Mooresville, Munster, New Albany, New Haven, Noblesville, Plainfield, Portage, Princeton, Schererville, Shelbyville, Speedway, Valparaiso (home of Valparaiso University), Washington, West Lafayette (home of Purdue University), Westfield, and Zionsville.

The suburbs of Indianapolis include Anderson, Avon, Beech Grove, Brownsburg, Carmel, Clermont, Danville, Fishers, Franklin, Greenwood, Lawrence, Lebanon, Noblesville, Pendleton, Plainfield, Southport, Speedway, West Newton, Whiteland, and Zionsville.

See also: Nine-County Region

The Indiana suburbs of Chicago, Illinois include Beverly Shores, Burns Harbor, Cedar Lake, Chesterton, Crown Point, Dune Acres, Dyer, East Chicago, Gary, Griffith, Hammond, Hebron, Highland, Hobart, Kouts, LaCrosse, Lake Station, LaPorte, Long Beach, Lowell, Merrillville, Michigan City, Munster, New Chicago, Ogden Dunes, Pines, Portage, St. John, Schererville, Schneider, Valparaiso, Westville, Winfield, and Whiting.

See also: Northwest Indiana

The Indiana suburbs of Louisville, Kentucky include Clarksville, Jeffersonville, and New Albany.

Fort Wayne's Indiana suburbs include Churubusco, Grabill, Huntertown, Leo-Cedarville, Monroeville, New Haven, Ossian, Roanoke, Woodburn and Zanesville.
Fort Wayne's Ohio suburbs include Antwerp, Payne, and Wren.

Evansville's Indiana suburbs include Boonville, Chandler, Darmstadt, Fort Branch, Haubstadt, Lynnville New Harmony, Newburgh, Mt. Vernon, Owensville and Princeton.
Evansville's Kentucky suburbs include Corydon, Henderson, Morganfield, Owensboro and Sebree.
Evansville's Illinois suburbs include Carmi, Crossville, Grayville, and Mount Carmel.

See also: Southwestern Indiana

South Bend's Indiana suburbs include Granger, Mishawaka, North Liberty, Osceola, Walkerton, and Roseland.

See also: Michiana

Politics

See also: List of Indiana Governors

See also: Indiana General Assembly

See also: Indiana Supreme Court

Indiana has three branches: executive (government), legislative (parliament) and judicial. The governor, elected for a four-year term, heads the government. The General Assembly, the legislative branch, consists of the upper house, Senate, and the lower house, House of Representatives. Indiana's fifty State Senators are elected for four-year terms and one hundred State Representatives for two-year terms. In odd-numbered years, the General Assembly meets in a sixty-one day session. In even-numbered years, the Assembly meets for thirty session days. The judicial branch consists of the Indiana Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, the Indiana Tax Court, and local circuit courts.

The current governor of Indiana is Mitch Daniels, whose campaign slogan was "My Man Mitch," an appellation given by President George W. Bush for whom Mitch Daniels was the director of the Office of Management and Budget. He was elected to office on November 2, 2004.

Indiana has long been considered to be a Republican stronghold. It has only supported a Democrat for president four times since 1900 -- in 1912, 1932, 1936 and 1964. Nonetheless, half of Indiana's governors in the 20th century were Democrats.

Historically, Republicans have been strongest in the eastern and central portions of the state, as well as the suburbs of the state's major cities. Democrats have been strongest in the northwestern and southern parts of the state along with the major cities. However, outside of Indianapolis, the Chicago suburbs, and Bloomington, the state's Democrats tend to be somewhat more conservative than their counterparts in the rest of the country, especially on social issues.

Indiana's delegation to the United States House of Representatives is not overly Republican as one might suspect. Instead, it has generally served as a bellwether for the political movement of the nation. For instance, Democrats held the majority of seats until the 1994 Republican Revolution, when Republicans took a majority. This continued until 2006, when three Republican congressmen were defeated in Indiana; (Chris Chocola, John Hostettler and Mike Sodrel), giving the Democrats a majority of the delegation again.

Former governor and current U.S. Senator Evan Bayh announced in 2006 his plans for a presidential exploratory committee. His father was a three-term senator who was turned out of office in the 1980 Reagan Revolution by conservative Republican (and future Vice-President) Dan Quayle, a native of the small town of Huntington in the northeastern part of the state. However, Bayh announced that he would not be seeking the Presidency on December 16, 2006.

The state's U.S. Senators are Senior Sen. Richard G. Lugar (Republican) and Junior Sen. Evan Bayh (Democrat). Both Senators, although of opposite parties, have proved immensely popular in the state. In 2004, Sen. Bayh won reelection to a second term with 62% of the vote. And in 2006, Sen. Lugar won reelection to a sixth term with 87% of the vote against no major-party opposition.

District	Representative	Party	Residence	First Took Office
Indiana 1	Peter Visclosky	Democrat	Merrillville	January 1985
Indiana 2	Joe Donnelly	Democrat	Granger	January 2007
Indiana 3	Mark Souder	Republican	Grabill	January 1995
Indiana 4	Steve Buyer	Republican	Plainfield	January 1993
Indiana 5	Dan Burton	Republican	Indianapolis	January 1983
Indiana 6	Mike Pence	Republican	Columbus	January 2001
Indiana 7	Vacant
Indiana 8	Brad Ellsworth	Democrat	Evansville	January 2007
Indiana 9	Baron Hill	Democrat	Seymour	January 1999

Main article: United States congressional delegations from Indiana

Administrative divisions

Town Council

According to the Indiana laws, Town Council members serve as both the executive and legislative branches for small communities incorporated as towns within the state. They consist of three or five members, depending upon the town's population.

Unlike some states, Indiana councilmembers must declare a political party affiliation, if any, when they file to run for office. Upon election in November, they are sworn in before January 1 of the following year, where they serve a four year term. There are no state term limits affecting how many times a candidate may run for reelection to office.

The first meeting after an election, members of the town council hold an organizing meeting, where they elect a leader to set future agendas and act as an official spokesman for the town or as liaison between the town and state and county government.

Indiana town councils work in conjunction with an elected town clerk, who manages the day-to-day business of the municipal government. As an elected official, the town clerk is solely executive in function and operates independently of the town council. But the council has final say on budgets which clerks depend upon to operate.

In addition to a clerk, the council can authorize the hiring of other staff to run the operations of government, including law enforcement officers, utility workers, park and recreation employees and town managers. These employees serve at the pleasure of the council.

Economy

The total gross state product in 2005 was US$214 billion in 2000 chained dollars. Indiana's per capita income, as of 2005, was US$31,150. A high percentage of Indiana's income is from manufacturing. The Calumet region of northwest Indiana is the largest steel producing area in the U.S. Steelmaking itself requires generating very large amounts of electric power. Indiana's other manufactures include pharmaceuticals and medical devices, automobiles, electrical equipment, transportation equipment, chemical products, rubber, petroleum and coal products, and factory machinery.

Despite its reliance on manufacturing, Indiana has been much less affected by declines in traditional Rust Belt manufactures than many of its neighbors. The explanation appears to be certain factors in the labor market. First, much of the heavy manufacturing, such as industrial machinery and steel, requires highly skilled labor, and firms are often willing to locate where hard-to-train skills already exist. Second, Indiana's labor force is located primarily in medium-sized and smaller cities rather than in very large and expensive metropolises. This makes it possible for firms to offer somewhat lower wages for these skills than would normally be paid. In other words, firms often see in Indiana a chance to obtain higher than average skills at lower than average wages.

Indiana is home to the international headquarters of pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly in Indianapolis as well as the headquarters of Mead Johnson Nutritionals, a division of Bristol-Myers Squibb, in Evansville. Elkhart, in the north, has also had a strong economic base of pharmaceuticals, though this has changed over the past decade with the closure of Whitehall Laboratories in the 1990s and the planned drawdown of the large Bayer complex, announced in late 2005. Overall, Indiana ranks fifth among all U.S. states in total sales and shipments of pharmaceutical products and second highest in the number of biopharmaceutical related jobs. Medical device manufacturers include Zimmer in Warsaw and Cook in Bloomington.

The state is located within the Corn Belt and the state's agricultural methods and principal farm outputs reflect this: a feedlot-style system raising corn to fatten hogs and cattle. Soybeans are also a major cash crop. Its proximity to large urban centers, such as Chicago, assure that dairying, egg production, and specialty horticulture occur. Specialty crops include melons, tomatoes, grapes, and mint. Most of the original land was not prairie and had to be cleared of deciduous trees. Many parcels of woodland remain and support a furniture-making sector in the southern portion of the state.

Indiana is becoming a leading state in the production of biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel. Indiana now has 12 ethanol and 4 biodiesel plants located in the state. Reynolds, located north of Lafayette is now known as BioTown, USA. The town is experimenting with using biofuels and organic fuels, such as those made with manure, to power the town.

In mining, Indiana is probably best known for its decorative limestone from the southern, hilly portion of the state, especially from Lawrence County (the home area of Apollo I astronaut Gus Grissom). One of the many public buildings faced with this stone is The Pentagon, and after the September 11, 2001 attacks, a special effort was made by the mining industry of Indiana to replace those damaged walls with as nearly identical type and cut of material as the original facing. There are also large coal mines in the southern portion of the state. Like most Great Lakes states, Indiana has small to medium operating petroleum fields; the principal location of these today is in the extreme southwest, though operational oil derricks can be seen on the outskirts of Terre Haute.

Indiana's economy is considered to be one of the most business-friendly in the U.S. This is due in part to its conservative business climate, low business taxes, relatively low union membership, and labor laws. The doctrine of at-will employment, whereby an employer can terminate an employee for any or no reason, is in force.

Indiana has a flat state income tax rate of 3.4%. Many Indiana counties also collect income tax. The state sales tax rate is 6%. Property taxes are imposed on both real and personal property in Indiana and are administered by the Department of Local Government Finance. Property is subject to taxation by a variety of taxing units (schools, counties, townships, cities and towns, libraries), making the total tax rate the sum of the tax rates imposed by all taxing units in which a property is located.

Energy

Indiana's power production chiefly consists of the consumption of fossil fuels, mainly coal. Indiana has 24 coal power plants, including the largest coal power plant in the United States, Gibson Generating Station, located near Owensville, Indiana. While Indiana has made commitments to increasing use of renewable resources such as wind, hydroelectric, biomass, or solar power, however, progress has been very slow, mainly because of the continued abundance of coal in Southern Indiana. Most of the new plants in the state have been "coal gasification" plants. Another source is hydroelectric power.

Indiana has six hydroelectric dams. The Norway and Oakdale Dams near Monticello provide electrical power, recreation, and other benefits to local citizens. The Norway Dam created Lake Shafer and the Oakdale Dam created Lake Freeman. The Markland Dam, on the Ohio River, near Vevay, Indiana also produces electricity. The city of Wabash was the first electrically lighted city in the country. Solar power and wind power are being investigated, and Geothermal Power is being used commercially.

Sources of energy (2001)

Fuel	Capacity	Percent of Total Consumed	Percent of Total Production	Number of Plants/Units
Coal	19,500MW	63.0000%	88.5000%	24 Plants
Natural Gas	2,100MW	29.0000%	10.5000%	12 Units / 2 plants
Petroleum	575MW	7.5000%	1.5000%	10 Units
Hydroelectric	64MW	0.0450%	0.0100%	1 Plant
Biomass	20MW	0.0150%	0.0020%	2 units
Wood & Waste	18MW	0.0013%	0.0015%	3 Units
Geothermal, Wind and/or Solar	0MW	0.0%	0.0	No Facilities at this time

• Indiana does not utilize wind or photovoltaic (solar) power.

Transportation

Airports

File:2008RegularIndiana.jpg

2008- Indiana License plate.

File:Indiana Small Letter wwwINgov Plate.JPG

2003-2008 Indiana License plate, "small letter version".

Indianapolis International Airport serves the greater Indianapolis area and is currently in the process of a major expansion project. When fully completed, the airport will offer a new midfield passenger terminal, concourses, air traffic control tower, parking garage, and airfield and apron improvements.

Other major airports include Evansville Regional Airport, Fort Wayne International Airport (which houses the 122nd Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard), and South Bend Regional Airport. Although Fort Wayne is designated as an international airport, there are no international flights operating out of the facility. A long-standing proposal to turn the under-utilized Gary Chicago International Airport into Chicago's third major airport received a boost in early 2006 with the approval of $48 million in federal funding over the next ten years.

File:Indiana license plate.jpg

2003-2008 Indiana License plate, "large letter version".

The Terre Haute International Airport has no airlines operating out of the facility but is used for private flying. Since 1954, the 181st Fighter Wing of the Indiana Air National Guard has been stationed at the airport. However, the BRAC Proposal of 2005 stated that the 181st would lose its fighter mission and F-16 aircraft, leaving the Terre Haute facility as a general-aviation only facility.

The southern part of the state is also served by the Louisville International Airport across the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky.

Highways

The major U.S. Interstate highways in Indiana are I-69, I-65, I-94, I-70, I-74, I-64, I-80, and I-90. The various highways intersecting in and around Indianapolis earned it the nickname "The Crossroads of America".

There are also many state highways maintained by the Indiana Department of Transportation. These are numbered according to the same convention as U.S. Highways.

County roads

Most Indiana counties use a grid-based system to identify county roads; this system replaced the older arbitrary system of road numbers and names, and (among other things) makes it much easier to identify the sources of calls placed to the 9-1-1 system. For this reason, the system is often called "9-1-1 addressing". Such systems are easier to implement in the glacially flattened northern portion of the state. Rural counties in the southern third of the state are less likely to have grids and more likely to rely on unsystematic road names (e.g., Franklin County); there are also counties in the northern portions of the state that have never implemented a grid, or have only partially implemented one.

Many counties set up this grid as follows: the county is given an east-west division line, dividing the county into northern and southern parts, and a north-south meridian line, dividing it into eastern and western parts. Roads are numbered by taking the distance, in miles, from the appropriate baseline and multiplying it by 100. Thus, a north-south road that is 1 mile east of the meridian line is county road 100 E; and an east-west road that is 4.75 miles north of the division line is county road 475 N.

Rail

Indiana has over 4,255 railroad route miles, of which 91 percent are operated by Class I railroads, principally CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern. Other Class I railroads in Indiana include Canadian National and the Soo Line, a Canadian Pacific Railway subsidiary, as well as Amtrak. The remaining miles are operated by 37 regional, local, and switching & terminal railroads. The South Shore Line is one of the country's most notable commuter rail systems extending from Chicago to South Bend. Indiana is currently implementing an extensive rail plan that was prepared in 2002 by the Parsons Corporation.

Ports

Indiana annually ships over 70 million tons of cargo by water each year, which ranks 14th among all U.S. states. More than half of Indiana's border is water, which includes 400 miles (640 km) of direct access to two major freight transportation arteries: the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway (via Lake Michigan) and the Inland Waterway System (via the Ohio River). The Ports of Indiana manages three major ports which include Burns Harbor, Jeffersonville, and Mount Vernon.

Education

Indiana is known as the "Brain Bank of the Midwest" as Indiana's colleges and universities attract the fourth largest number of out-of-state students in the nation and the largest out-of-state student population in the midwest. In addition, Indiana is the third best state in the country at keeping high school seniors in-state as Indiana colleges and universities attract 88% of Indiana's college attendees. Indiana universities also lead the nation in the attraction of international students with Purdue University and Indiana University ranked #3 and #17 respectively in the total international student enrollment of all universities in the United States. This exceptional popularity is attributed to the high quality of the research and educational universities located in the state. The state's leading higher education institutions include Indiana University, Purdue University, University of Notre Dame, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Indiana-Purdue at Indianapolis, Butler University, Ball State University, Valparaiso University, Indiana State University, University of Southern Indiana, Vincennes University, Wabash College, DePauw University, Manchester College, Earlham College and Indiana Wesleyan University among the many public and private institutions located in the state.

The state has had difficulty retaining its college graduates, bringing the issue of brain drain to the attention of Governor Mitch Daniels.

See also: List of colleges and universities in Indiana

See also: List of school districts in Indiana

See also: List of high schools in Indiana

Sports

Auto racing

Indiana has a long history with auto racing. Indianapolis hosts the Indianapolis 500 mile race over Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway every May. The name of the race is usually shortened to "Indy 500" and also goes by the nickname, "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing". The race attracts over 250,000 people every year. The track also hosts the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard (NASCAR) and the United States Grand Prix (Formula One).

Basketball

Indiana has a rich basketball heritage that reaches back to the formative years of the sport itself. Although James Naismith invented basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891, Indiana is where high school basketball was born. In 1925, Naismith visited an Indiana basketball state finals game along with 15,000 screaming fans and later wrote "Basketball really had its origin in Indiana, which remains the center of the sport." The 1986 film Hoosiers is based on the story of the 1954 Indiana state champions Milan High School.

Club	Sport	League
Anderson Packers (defunct)	Basketball	National Basketball Association
Dubois County Dragons (defunct)	Baseball	Minor League Baseball
Elkhart Express	Basketball	Minor League Basketball
Evansville BlueCats (defunct)	Indoor football	United Indoor Football
Evansville Crimson Giants (defunct)	Football	National Football League
Evansville Otters	Baseball	Minor League Baseball
Evansville Triplets (defunct)	Baseball	Minor League Baseball
Fort Wayne Fever	Soccer	USL Premier Development League
Fort Wayne Fusion	Arena football	af2
Fort Wayne Komets	Ice hockey	International Hockey League (2007-)
Fort Wayne Mad Ants	Basketball	National Basketball Association Development League
Fort Wayne Wizards	Baseball	Minor League Baseball
Gary Steelheads	Basketball	Continental Basketball Association
FC Indiana	Soccer	Women's Premier Soccer League
Gary SouthShore RailCats	Baseball	Minor League Baseball
Indiana Fever	Basketball	Women's National Basketball Association
Indiana Ice	Ice hockey	United States Hockey League
Indiana Invaders	Soccer	USL Premier Development League
Indiana Speed	Football	Women's Professional Football League
Indianapolis Colts	Football	National Football League
Indiana Pacers	Basketball	National Basketball Association
Indianapolis Indians	Baseball	Minor League Baseball
Hammond Pros (defunct)	Football	National Football League
Indianapolis Olympians (defunct)	Basketball	National Basketball Association
Indianapolis Jets (defunct)	Basketball	National Basketball Association
Indianapolis Racers (defunct)	Ice Hockey	World Hockey Association
Muncie Flyers (defunct)	Football	National Football League (American Professional Football Association)
South Bend Silver Hawks	Baseball	Minor League Baseball
Whiting All-American Caesars (defunct)	Basketball	National Basketball League

College sports

Indiana has had great sports success at the collegiate level. Notably, Indiana University has won five NCAA basketball championships, six swimming and diving NCAA championships, and seven NCAA soccer championships and Notre Dame has won 11 football championships. Schools fielding NCAA Division I athletic programs include:

Ball State University Butler University Indiana University IPFW IUPUI

Indiana State University Purdue University University of Evansville University of Notre Dame Valparaiso University

Miscellaneous topics

Military installations

Indiana used to be home to two major military installations, Grissom Air Force Base near Peru (reduced to reservist operations in 1994) and Fort Benjamin Harrison near Indianapolis, now closed, though the Department of Defense continues to operate a large finance center there.

Current active installations include Air National Guard fighter units at Fort Wayne, and Terre Haute airports (to be consolidated at Fort Wayne under the 2005 BRAC proposal, with the Terre Haute facility remaining open as a non-flying installation). The Army National Guard conducts operations at Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh, Indiana and helicopter operations out of Shelbyville Airport. The Crane Naval Weapons Center is in the southwest of the state and the Army's Newport Chemical Depot, which is currently heavily involved in neutralizing dangerous chemical weapons stored there, is in the western part of the state. Also, Naval Operational Support Center Indianapolis is home to several Navy Reserve units, a Marine Reserve unit, and a small contingent of active and full-time-support reserve personnel.

Time zones

Main article: Time in Indiana

Map of U.S. time zones with new CST and EST areas displayed

Prior to 2006, most of Indiana historically exempted itself from the observation of daylight saving time (DST). Some counties within this area, particularly Floyd, Clark, and Harrison counties near Louisville, Kentucky, and Ohio and Dearborn counties near Cincinnati, Ohio, observed daylight saving time unofficially and illegally by local custom. Due to the confusion of anyone not from Indiana, the state passed a bill in 2005 whereby the entire state began observing daylight saving time starting in April 2006. Residents and officials of Indiana continue to debate whether the state should be in the Central or Eastern Time Zone.

State symbols

Main article: List of Indiana state symbols

• State bird: Cardinal
• State flower: Peony
• State motto: Crossroads of America.
• State poem: Indiana, by Arthur Franklin Mapes.
• State song: On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away
• State river: Wabash
• State stone: Salem limestone
• State tree: Tulip tree

Famous Hoosiers

Indiana is the home state of many astronauts, including Gus Grissom, Frank Borman, and David Wolf. The state was the birthplace of numerous entertainers and athletes including Larry Bird, John Mellencamp, Michael Jackson, Don Larsen, David Letterman, David Lee Roth, and Scott Rolen. Other notable people who were in Indiana during a major part of their career include:

• John Andretti, racecar driver
• David Anspaugh, movie director
• Albert J. Beveridge, politician and historian
• Larry Bird, basketball player, coach
• Damon Bailey, retired basketball player
• Arija Bareikis, actress
• Birch Bayh, senator
• Evan Bayh, governor and senator
• Rupert Boneham, Survivor star
• Claude Bowers, politician and historian
• Avery Brooks, Actor
• Hoagy Carmichael, composer
• Jared Carter, poet
• Jim Davis, cartoonist
• James Dean, movie star
• Eugene V. Debs, Socialist Presidential candidate
• Mark Dismore, racecar driver
• Theodore Dreiser, novelist
• Paul Dresser, song writer
• Carl Erskine, baseball star and civic leader
• Jessie Flower, actress
• Vivica A. Fox, actress
• Jared Fogle, Subway Spokesperson
• Brendan Fraser, actor
• Lillian Gilbreth, home economist
• Jeff Gordon, NASCAR driver
• Michael Graves, architect
• Bob Griese, Football Player
• Gus Grissom, astronaut
• Rex Grossman, NFL Quarterback
• Charles Halleck, politician
• Lee Hamilton, politician
• Benjamin Harrison, 23rd U.S. President
• William Henry Harrison, U.S. President and General
• Richard Hatcher, politician
• Florence Henderson, singer-actress
• Jimmy Hoffa, American labor leader
• Paul Hoffman, industrialist
• Robert Indiana, painter/sculptor
• Michael Jackson, singer/songwriter
• Shawn Kemp, basketball player
• Alfred Kinsey, sex researcher
• Bobby Knight, basketball coach

• Don Larsen, baseball pitcher
• David Letterman, TV personality
• Eli Lilly, industrialist and philanthropist
• Carole Lombard, actress
• Shelley Long, actress
• Richard Lugar, politician
• Karl Malden, actor
• Steve McQueen, actor
• Ryan Newman, NASCAR driver
• Jane Pauley, anchor and journalist
• Cole Porter, song writer
• Ernie Pyle, journalist
• Dan Quayle, Forty-fourth U.S. Vice-President
• George Rapp, Utopian
• Orville Redenbacher, farming (popcorn)
• James Whitcomb Riley, poet
• Oscar Robertson, basketball player
• Knute Rockne, football coach
• Ned Rorem, prominent 20th century composer and writer
• Axl Rose, musician
• Harland Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken
• Wilbur Shaw, racecar driver
• Jean Shepherd, raconteur, personality, writer, and actor
• Red Skelton, comedian
• T. C. Steele, painter
• Tony Stewart, NASCAR driver
• Izzy Stradlin, guitarist/musician
• Gene Stratton-Porter, novelist
• Clement Studebaker, automobile maker
• Booth Tarkington, novelist
• Tecumseh, pan-American Indian leader
• Steve Tesich, screenwriter and playwright
• Maurice Thompson, novelist
• Kurt Vonnegut, novelist
• Madam C.J. Walker, bussinesswoman and civic leader
• Lew Wallace, Civil War general, statesman, author
• Ryan White, AIDS activist
• Matt Williams, producer of popular television shows
• Wendell Willkie, politician
• Robert Wise, movie director
• John Wooden, basketball coach
• Fuzzy Zoeller, PGA golfer

See also: List of people from Indiana

See also

• Indiana census statistical areas
• List of counties in Indiana
• Indiana State Museum
• Indiana State Police

Bibliography

• Indiana Writer's Project. Indiana: A Guide To The Hoosier State: American Guide Series (1937), famous WPA Guide to every location; strong on history, architecture and culture; reprinted 1973
• Donald Francis Carmony. Indiana, 1816 to 1850: The Pioneer Era (1998)
• James H. Madison. The Indiana Way: A State History (1990)
• Mark Skertic and John J. Watkins. A Native's Guide to Northwest Indiana (2003)
• Robert M. Taylor, ed. The State of Indiana History 2000: Papers Presented at the Indiana Historical Society's Grand Opening (2001)
• Robert M. Taylor, ed. Indiana: A New Historical Guide (1990), highly detailed guide to citiies and recent history

External links

Government

• IN.Gov - The Official website of the State of Indiana
• IndyGov.Org - Official Indianapolis city government website

Cultural and Recreation

• Indiana Historical Society
• Indiana State Emblems
• USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Indiana
• Indiana State Facts from USDA
• Official Indiana state tourism website
• Road to Indiana Statehood

Geography

• Historic Indiana Atlases
• Historic Indiana Maps
• Indiana Plat Books - Historic guides to the communities of Indiana

Professional Media

• Indiana Daily Newspapers
• Indiana Economic Digest - Digest of Indiana business stories
• Inside Indiana Business - Statewide business daily
• Indianapolis Star - Central Indiana news
• The Tribune-Star - West-Central Indiana news
• The Herald-Times - South-Central Indiana news
• Evansville Courier & Press - Southwest Indiana news
• The Times - Northwest Indiana news

Business

• Indiana Chamber of Commerce
• Indiana Economic Development Corporation IEDC
• Indiana Small Business Development Centers
• Indiana Venture Center

International Community and Business Resources

• Indiana District Export Council
• Indiana Foreign Trade Offices
• Nationalities Council of Indiana
• Ports of Indiana
• U.S. Export Assistance Center
• World Trade Club of Indiana

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