Indiana
Encyclopedia
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States
and Great Lakes Region
. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is the smallest state in the continental US west of the Appalachian Mountains
. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis
, the second largest of any state capital and largest state capital east of the Mississippi River.
Before it became a territory, varying cultures of indigenous peoples
and historic Native Americans
inhabited Indiana for thousands of years. Angel Mounds State Historic Site
, one of the best preserved ancient earthwork mound sites in the United States, can be found in Southwestern Indiana
near Evansville
.
Residents of Indiana are known as Hoosier
s. The derivation of the term is disputed, but one hypothesis has "Hoosier" originating from a frontier greeting, a corruption of "Who's here?" The state's name means "Land of the Indians
," or simply "Indian Land." This name dates back to at least the 1760s but was first applied to the region by the United States Congress
when the Indiana Territory
was incorporated in 1800, separating it from the Northwest Territory
.
Today, Indiana has a diverse economy
with a gross state product of $214 billion in 2005. Indiana has several metropolitan areas with populations greater than 100,000 and a number of smaller industrial cities and towns. Indiana is home to several major sports teams and athletic events including the NFL's
Indianapolis Colts
, the NBA's
Indiana Pacers
, the WNBA’s Indiana Fever
, and the Indianapolis 500
and Brickyard 400 motorsports races
. The state also has several NCAA Division I athletic programs, notably the Purdue Boilermakers
, Indiana Hoosiers
, Notre Dame Fighting Irish
, and Butler Bulldogs
.
Furthermore, the state has several universities ranked among the best in U.S. News & World Report's
2011 rankings. Purdue University
, Indiana University
, and the University of Notre Dame
are ranked among the top 50 in the National Universities Rankings, while Butler University
, Valparaiso University
and the University of Evansville
are ranked among the top 10 in the Regional University Midwest Rankings. Taylor University
has been ranked first in the guide's America’s Best Colleges among 109 Midwest Regional Colleges for five years in a row. Additionally, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
has been rated the best undergraduate engineering program by the magazine since the year 2000.
after the melting of the glaciers at the conclusion of the Ice Age
. Divided into small groups, the Paleo-Indians were nomad
s who hunted large game
such as Mastodons. They created stone tools made out of chert
by chipping, knapping and flaking
. The subsequent phase of Indiana's Native American antiquity is called the Archaic period, which occurred between 5000 and 4000 BC. They differed from the Paleo-Indians in that they used new tools and techniques to prepare food. Such new tools included different types of spear points and knives, with various forms of notches. They also used ground stone tools such as stone axes, woodworking tools and grinding stones. During the latter part of the period, mound
s and midden
s were created, indicating that their settlements were becoming more permanent. The Archaic period ended at about 1500 BC, although some Archaic people lived until 700 BC. Afterwards, the Woodland period
took place in Indiana, where various new cultural attributes appeared. During this period, ceramics and pottery were created as well as the increase of usage in horticulture. An early Woodland period group named the Adena people
had elegant burial rituals, featuring log tombs beneath earth mounds. In the middle portion of the Woodland period, the Hopewell people began exploration of long-range trade of goods. Nearing the end of the stage, an exhaustive cultivation and adaptation of agriculture to grow crops such as corn
and squash. The Woodland period ended around 1000 AD. The incoming period afterwards was known as the Mississippian
period, which lasted from 1000 until just before the arrival of Europeans. During this stage, large settlements were created that had similarities to towns, such as the Angel Mounds
. They had large public areas such as plazas and platform mounds, where instrumental individuals of the settlement lived or conducted rituals. Mississippian civilization collapsed in Indiana during the mid-1400s for reasons that remain unclear.
French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
was the first European to cross into Indiana after reaching present-day South Bend
at the Saint Joseph River
in 1679. He returned the following year to gain knowledge of northern Indiana. Canadiens fur trade
rs also came along and brought blankets, jewelry, tools, whiskey and weapons to trade for skins with the Native Americans. By 1702, the first trading post was established by Sieur Juchereau
near Vincennes
. In 1715, Sieur de Vincennes
built Fort Miami at Kekionga
, now Fort Wayne. In 1717, another Canadien, Picote de Beletre, built Fort Ouiatenon
on the Wabash River
, with the efforts to control Native American trade routes from Lake Erie
to the Mississippi River
. In 1732, Sieur de Vincennes built a second fur trading post at Vincennes. Canadien settlers, which had left the earlier post because of hostilities, came back in larger numbers. In a period of a few years however, the British arrived and contended against the Canadians for management of the fruitful fur trade. Fighting between the Canadians and British occurred throughout the 1750s as a result.
The Native American tribes of Indiana sided with the Canadians during the French and Indian War
. By the conclusion of the war in 1763, the French had lost all land west of the colonies
, and control had been ceded to the British crown. Neighboring tribes in Indiana, however, did not give up and destroyed Fort Ouiatenon
and Fort Miami during Pontiac's Rebellion
. The royal proclamation of 1763 ceded the land west of the Appalachians for Indian use, and was thus labeled Indian territory. In 1775, the American Revolutionary War
began as the colonists looked to free themselves from British rule. The majority of the fighting took place in the east, but military officer George Rogers Clark
called for an army to help fight the British in the west. Clark's army won significant battles to overtake Vincennes
and Fort Sackville on February 25, 1779. During the war, Clark managed to cut off British troops who were attacking the colonist from the west. His success is often credited for changing the course of the American Revolutionary War. At the end of the revolutionary war, through the treaty of Paris, the British crown ceded their claims to the land south of the Great Lakes to the newly formed United States.
Present-day Indiana became part of the Northwest Territory
in 1787. In 1800, Ohio
was separated from the Northwest Territory by Congress, designating the rest of the land as the Indiana Territory
. President Thomas Jefferson
chose William Henry Harrison
as the governor of the territory and Vincennes
was established as the capital. After Michigan
was separated and the Illinois Territory
was formed, the size of Indiana was reduced to its current state. In 1810, Shawnee
leader Tecumseh
and his brother Tenskwatawa
encouraged other tribes to resist European settlement into the territory. Tensions rose and Harrison was authorized to launch a preemptive expedition against Tecumseh's Confederacy resulting in a US victory at the Battle of Tippecanoe
on November 7, 1811. Tecumseh was killed in 1813 during the Battle of Thames. After his death, armed resistance to United States control ended in the region. Most Native Americans in the state were later removed
through negotiations to purchase their lands in the 1820s and 1830s.
In December 1813, Corydon
became the second capital of the Indiana Territory. Two years later, a petition for statehood was approved by the territorial general assembly and sent to Congress. Afterwards, an Enabling Act
was passed to provide an election of delegates to write a constitution for Indiana
. On June 10, 1816, delegates assembled at Corydon to write the constitution, which was completed in nineteen days. President James Madison
approved Indiana's admission into the union as the nineteenth state on December 11, 1816. In 1825, the state capital was moved from Corydon to Indianapolis
and 26 years later, a second constitution was adopted. Following statehood, the new government set out on an ambitious plan to transform Indiana from a wilderness frontier into a developed, well-populated, and thriving state, beginning significant demographic and economic changes. The state's founders initiated a program that led to the construction of roads, canal
s, railroads and state-funded public schools. The plans bankrupted the state
and were a financial disaster, but increased land and produce value more than fourfold. The early nineteenth century saw much immigration to Indiana. The largest immigrant group to settle in Indiana were Germans, though there were also substantial numbers of immigrants from Ireland and England as well as Americans who were ethnically English
from regions such as New York, New England and Pennsylvania.
During the American Civil War
, Indiana became politically influential and played an important role in the affairs of the nation. As the first western state to mobilize for the war, Indiana's soldiers were present in all of the major engagements during the war. Indiana residents were present in both the first and last battles and the state provided 126 infantry regiments, 26 batteries of artillery and 13 regiments of cavalry to the cause of the Union. In 1861, Indiana was assigned a quota of 7,500 men to join the Union Army. So many volunteered in the first call that thousands had to be turned away. Before the war ended, Indiana contributed 208,367 men to fight and serve in the war. Casualties were over 35% among these men: 24,416 lost their lives in the conflict and over 50,000 more were wounded. The only Civil War battle fought in Indiana was the Battle of Corydon
, which occurred during Morgan's Raid
. The battle left 15 dead, 40 wounded, and 355 captured.
Following the American Civil War, Indiana industry began to grow at an accelerated rate across the northern part of the state leading to the formation of labor unions and suffrage movements. The Indiana Gas Boom
led to rapid industrialization during the late 19th century by providing cheap fuel to the region. In the early 20th century, Indiana developed into a strong manufacturing state
with strong ties to the auto industry. Haynes-Apperson
, the nations first commercially successful auto company operated in Kokomo
until 1925. The state also saw many developments with the construction of Indianapolis Motor Speedway
and the start many other auto industries. During the 1930s, Indiana, like the rest of the nation, was affected by the Great Depression
. The economic downturn had a wide-ranging negative impact on Indiana, such as the decline of urbanization. The situation was aggravated by the Dust Bowl
, which caused an influx of migrants from the rural Midwestern United States
. Governor Paul V. McNutt
's administration struggled to build a state-funded welfare system to help the overwhelmed private charities. During his administration, spending and taxes were both cut drastically in response to the depression and the state government was completely reorganized. McNutt also ended Prohibition
in the state and enacted the state's first income tax. On several occasions, he declared martial law to put an end to worker strikes. World War II helped lift the economy in Indiana, as the war required steel, food and other goods that were produced in Indiana. Roughly 10 percent of Indiana's population joined the armed forces while hundreds of industries earned war production contracts and began making war material. The effects of the war helped end the Great Depression.
With the conclusion of World War II, Indiana rebounded to levels of production prior to the Great Depression. Industry became the primary employer, a trend that continued into the 1960s. Urbanization during the 1950s and 1960s led to substantial growth in the state's urban centers. The auto, steel and pharmaceutical industries topped Indiana's major businesses. Indiana's population continued to grow during the years after the war, exceeding five million by the 1970 census. In the 1960s, the administration of Matthew E. Welsh
adopted its first sales tax of two percent. Indiana schools had been desegregated in 1949. Welsh also worked with the General Assembly to pass the Indiana Civil Rights Bill, granting equal protection to minorities in seeking employment. Beginning in 1970, a series of amendments to the state constitution were proposed. With adoption, the Indiana Court of Appeals
was created and the procedure of appointing justices on the courts was adjusted. The 1973 oil crisis
created a recession that hurt the automotive industry in Indiana. Companies like Delco Electronics
and Delphi
began a long series of downsizing that contributed to high unemployment rates in manufacturing in Anderson
, Muncie
, and Kokomo
. The deindustrialization trend continued until the 1980s when the national and state economy began to diversify and recover.
With a total area of 36418 square miles (94,322.2 km²), Indiana ranks as the 38th largest state in size. The state has a maximum dimension north to south of 250 miles (402.3 km) and a maximum east to west dimension of 145 miles (233.4 km). The state is bordered on the north by Michigan
, on the east by Ohio
and on the west by Illinois
. The Ohio River
separates Indiana from Kentucky
on the southern border. Indiana is one of eight states that make up the Great Lakes region
. The state includes two natural regions of the United States, the Central Lowland and the Interior Low Plateau. The average altitude of Indiana is about 760 feet (231.6 m) above sea level. The highest point in the state is Hoosier Hill
, which is 1257 feet (383.1 m) above sea level. Only 2850 square miles (7,381.5 km²) have an altitude greater than 1000 feet (304.8 m) and this area is enclosed within 14 counties. About 4700 square miles (12,172.9 km²) have an elevation of less than 500 feet (152.4 m).
The till plain
s make up the central allotment of Indiana. Much of its appearance is a result of elements left behind by glaciers. The area includes some low hills and the soil is composed of glacial sands, gravel and clay, which results to exceptional farmland in central Indiana. The unglaciated segment of the state carries a different and off-balance surface, characterized in places by profound valleys and expeditious streams. A limited area in the southeastern area of the state possesses these types of characteristics. The soil is fertile in the valleys of Indiana, most notably Whitewater Valley which is known for its prodigious farming. In northwest Indiana, there are various sand hills and dunes, due in some measure to a former extension of the lake and wind action. In the basin of the Kankakee River
there is an extensive scope of lakes, marshes and prairies. In northeastern Indiana there is a region of tall moraine
s, one of which is 200 to 500 feet (61 to 150 m) deep, 25 miles (40.2 km) wide and stretching across a distance of 100 miles (160.9 km).
The Wabash River
, which is the longest free-flowing river east of the Mississippi, is the official river of Indiana. At 475 miles (764 km) in length, the river bisects the state from northeast to southwest before flowing south, mostly along the Indiana-Illinois border. The river has been the subject of several songs, such as On the Banks of the Wabash
, The Wabash Cannonball
and Back Home Again, In Indiana
.
The Kankakee River
passes through northern Indiana before emptying into the Illinois River
and serves as a demarcating line between suburban northwest Indiana and the rest of the state. There are over 1,000 lakes in Indiana. Indiana borders Lake Michigan where the Port of Indiana
operates the state's largest shipping port. Tippecanoe Lake is the deepest lake in the state reaching depths at nearly 120 feet (36.6 m) while Lake Wawasee
is the largest natural lake in Indiana.
, with cool winters and warm, irriguous summers. The extreme southern portion of the state is within the humid subtropical climate
area and receives more precipitation than other parts of Indiana. Temperatures generally diverge from the north and south sections of the state. In the middle of the winter, average high/low temperatures range from around 30 °F/15 °F (−1 °C/-10 °C) in the far north to 39 °F/22 °F (4 °C/-6 °C) in the far south. In the middle of summer there is generally a little less variation across the state, as average high/low temperatures range from around 84 °F/64 °F (29 °C/18 °C) in the far north to 90 °F/69 °F (32 °C/21 °C) in the far south. The record high temperature for the state was 116 °F (47 °C) set on July 14, 1936 at Collegeville
. The record low was −36 °F (−38 °C) on January 19, 1994 at New Whiteland
. The growing season
typically spans from 155 days in the north and 185 days in the south. While droughts occasionally occur in the state, rainfall totals are administered relatively equally throughout the year. Precipitation totals range from 35 inches (88.9 cm) near Lake Michigan to 45 inches (114.3 cm) along the Ohio River, with the state average being 40 inches (101.6 cm). The annual snowfall in Indiana varies widely across the state, ranging from 80 inches (203.2 cm) in the northwest along Lake Michigan to 14 inches (35.6 cm) in the far south. Lake effect snow
accounts for roughly half of the snowfall in northwest and northcentral Indiana, due to the effects of the moisture and relative warmth of Lake Michigan upwind. The mean wind speed is 8 miles per hour (12.9 km/h). Indiana is one of the most tornado-prone states in the country, ranking sixth in a list by VorTek, an Alabama company. The city of South Bend was ranked the 14th most tornado-prone city in the country, ahead of cities such as Houston and Wichita
. The same company also published a list of the most tornado prone cities and states in April, with Indiana coming in first and South Bend ranking 16th. Despite its vulnerability, Indiana is not a part of tornado alley
.
Indiana is one of thirteen U.S. states that is divided into more than one time zone. Indiana's time zone
s have fluctuated over the past century. At present most of the state observes Eastern Time
; six counties near Chicago and six near Evansville observe Central Time. Debate continues on the matter.
Before 2006, most of Indiana did not observe 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, unofficially observed DST by local custom. Since April 2006 the entire state observes DST.
, is a consolidated city-county.
and later Corydon
which became the first state capital when Indiana became a state. The center of population in Indiana as well as the geographic center of Indiana are both located near Indianapolis
. Indiana has four large metropolitan areas anchored by in-state cities;
Pictured below are the cities larger than 55,000 in order of population with their most current population estimates from the 2010 United States Census.
As of 2010, there were 6,483,802 people residing in the state. The population density was 181.0 persons per square mile. The racial makeup of the state was 84.3% White, 9.1% African American, 1.6% Asian, 2.0% from a biracial or multiracial background and 0.3% Native American. Hispanic or Latino of any race made up 6.0% of the population. The Hispanic population is Indiana’s fastest growing minority. In the state, 24.9% of the population are under the age of 18, 6.9% are under the age of five and 12.8% are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36.4 years. In 2005, 77.7% of Indiana residents lived in metropolitan counties, 16.5% lived in micropolitan counties and 5.9% lived in non-core counties.
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%). Most of those citing American ancestry are actually of English descent, but have family that has been in North America for so long, in many cases since the early colonial era
, that they identify simply as "American". In the 1980 census 1,776,144 people claimed German ancestry, 1,356,135 claimed English ancestry and 1,017,944 claimed Irish ancestry out of a total population of 4,241,975 making the state 42% German, 32% English and 24% Irish..
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. Hamilton County has also been the fastest growing county in the area consisting of Indiana and its bordering states of Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky and the 20th fastest growing county in the country.
In 2005, the median household income for Indiana residents was $43,993. Nearly 498,700 Indiana households had incomes from $50,000 to $74,999, accounting for 20% of all households. Hamilton County’s median household income is nearly $35,000 higher than the Indiana average. At $78,932, it ranks seventh in the country among counties with less than 250,000 people. The next highest median incomes in Indiana are also found in the Indianapolis suburbs; Hendricks County has a median of $57,538, followed by Johnson County at $56,251.
Although the largest single religious denomination in the state is Roman Catholic (836,009 members), most of the population are members of various Protestant denominations. The largest Protestant denomination by number of adherents in 2000 was the United Methodist Church
with 288,308. A study by the Graduate Center found that 20 percent are Roman Catholic, 14 percent belong to different Baptist
churches, 10 percent are other Christians, nine percent are Methodist, and six percent are Lutheran. The study also found that 16 percent are secular.
Indiana is home to the St. Meinrad Archabbey
, one of two archabbeys in the United States and one of 11 in the world. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has one of its two seminaries in Fort Wayne, IN. Two conservative denominations, the Free Methodist Church
and the Wesleyan Church
, have their headquarters in Indianapolis as does the Christian Church
. 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 the Church of God. The headquarters of the Missionary Church
is located in Fort Wayne. The Friends United Meeting
of the Religious Society of Friends
, the largest branch of American Quakerism, is based in Richmond
, which also houses the oldest Quaker seminary in the United States, the Earlham School of Religion
. The Islamic Society of North America
is headquartered in Plainfield
.
Indiana has 100,000 Muslims and 17,000 Jews.
With a population of 829,817, Indianapolis
is by far the largest city in Indiana and 11th largest in the United States (when looking at its consolidated population within Marion County), according to the 2010 Census. Three other cities in Indiana have a population greater than 100,000: Fort Wayne
(253,617), Evansville
(179,703) and South Bend
(101,168). Since 2000, Fishers
has seen the largest population rise amongst the state’s 20 largest cities with an increase of 100 percent. Hammond
and Gary
have seen the largest population declines regarding the top 20 largest cities since 2000, with a decrease of 6.8 and 21.0 percent respectively. Other cities that have seen extensive growth since 2000 are Noblesville
(39.4 percent), Greenwood
(81 percent), Carmel
(21.4 percent) and Lawrence
(9.3 percent). Meanwhile, Evansville
(−4.2 percent), Anderson
(−4 percent) and Muncie
(−3.9 percent) are cities that have seen the steepest decline in population in the state. Indianapolis has the largest metropolitan area in the state and 33rd largest
in the country. It consists of Marion County
and eight surrounding counties in central Indiana. Altogether there are 13 metropolitan areas in Indiana.
The Governor of Indiana
serves as the chief executive of the state and has the authority to manage the government as established in the Constitution of Indiana. The governor and the lieutenant governor
are jointly elected to four-year terms, with gubernatorial elections running concurrent with United States presidential elections (1996,2000,2004,2008, etc.). The governor may not serve more than two consecutive terms. The governor works with the Indiana General Assembly
and the Supreme Court of Indiana
to govern the state and has the authority to adjust the other branches. Special sessions of the General Assembly can be called upon by the governor as well as have the power to select and remove leaders of nearly all state departments, boards and commissions. Other notable powers include calling out the Indiana Guard Reserve
or the Indiana National Guard
in times of emergency or disaster, issuing pardons or commuting the sentence of any criminal offenders except in cases of treason or impeachment and possessing an abundant amount of statutory authority. The lieutenant governor serves as the President of the Senate and is responsible for ensuring that the senate rules are acted in accordance with by its constituents. The lieutenant governor can only vote to break ties. If the governor dies in office, becomes permanently incapacitated, resigns or is impeached, the lieutenant governor becomes governor. If both the governor and lieutenant governor positions are unoccupied, the Senate President pro tempore becomes governor.
The Indiana General Assembly is composed of a 50-member Senate
and 100-member House of Representatives
. The Senate is the upper house
of the General Assembly and the House of Representatives is the lower house
. The General Assembly has exclusive legislative authority within the state government. Both the Senate and House of Representatives can introduce legislation, with the exception that the Senate is not authorized to initiate legislation that will affect revenue. Bills are debated and passed separately in each house, but must be passed by both houses before they can submitted to the Governor. The legislature can nullify a veto from the governor with a majority vote of full membership in the Senate and House of Representatives. Each law passed by the General Assembly must be used without exception to the entire state. The General Assembly has no authority to create legislation that targets only a particular community. The General Assembly can manage the state's judiciary system by arranging the size of the courts and the bounds of their districts. It also can oversee the activities of the executive branch of the state government, has restricted power to regulate the county governments within the state, and has exclusive power to initiate the method to alter the Indiana Constitution.
The Indiana Supreme Court
is made up of five judges with a Court of Appeals
composed of 15 judges. The governor selects judges for the supreme and appeal courts from a group of applicants chosen by a special commission. After serving for two years, the judges must acquire the support of the electorate to serve for a 10-year term. In nearly all cases, the Supreme Court does not have original jurisdiction
and can only hear cases that are petitioned to the court following being heard in lower courts. Local circuit courts are where the majority of cases begin with a trial and the consequence decided by the jury. The Supreme Court does have original and sole jurisdiction in certain specific areas including the practice of law, discipline or disbarment of Judges appointed to the lower state courts, and supervision over the exercise of jurisdiction by the other lower courts of the State.
The state is divided into 92 counties
, which are led by a board of county commissioners. 90 counties in Indiana have their own circuit court
with a judge elected for a six-year term. The remaining two counties, Dearborn and Ohio, are combined into one circuit. Many counties operate superior court
s in addition to the circuit court. In densely populated counties where the caseload is traditionally greater, separate courts have been established to solely hear either juvenile, criminal, probate or small claims cases. The establishment, frequency and jurisdiction of these additional courts varies greatly from county to county. There are 85 city and town courts in Indiana municipalities, created by local ordinance, typically handling minor offenses and not considered courts of record. County officials that are elected to four-year terms include an auditor, recorder, treasurer, sheriff, coroner and clerk of the circuit court. All incorporated cities in Indiana have a mayor and council form of municipal government. Towns are governed by a town council and townships are governed by a township trustee and advisory board.
From 1880 to 1924, a resident of Indiana was included in all but one presidential election. Indiana Representative William Hayden English
was nominated for Vice-President and ran with Winfield Scott Hancock in the 1880 election
. In 1884, former Indiana Governor Thomas A. Hendricks
was elected Vice-President of the United States. He served until his death on November 25, 1885, under President Grover Cleveland
. In 1888, Indiana Senator Benjamin Harrison
was elected President of the United States and served one term. He remains the only U.S. President from Indiana. Indiana Senator Charles W. Fairbanks
was elected Vice-President in 1904, serving under President Theodore Roosevelt
until 1913. Fairbanks made another run for Vice-President with Charles Evans Hughes
in 1912, but they both lost to Woodrow Wilson
and Indiana Governor Thomas R. Marshall
, who served as Vice-President from 1913 until 1921. Not until 1988 did another presidential election involved a native of Indiana, when Senator Dan Quayle
was elected Vice-President and served one term with George H. W. Bush
.
Indiana has long been considered to be a Republican
stronghold, particularly in Presidential races, but the Cook Partisan Voting Index
(CPVI) now rates Indiana as only R+5, a smaller Republican edge than is assigned to 20 of the 28 "red" states. Indiana was one of only ten states to support Republican Wendell Willkie
in 1940. On 14 occasions has the Republican candidate defeated the Democrat by a double digit margin in the state, including six times where a Republican won the state by more than 20%. In 2000 and 2004, George W. Bush
won the state by a wide margin while the election was much closer overall. The state has only supported a Democrat
for president five times since 1900. In 1912, Woodrow Wilson
became the first Democrat to win the state with 43% of the vote. 20 years later, Franklin D. Roosevelt
won the state with 55% of the vote over incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover
. Roosevelt won the state again in 1936. In 1964, 56% of voters supported Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson
over Republican Barry Goldwater
. 44 years later, Democrat Barack Obama
narrowly won the state against John McCain
50% to 49%.
While only five Democratic presidential nominees have carried Indiana since 1900, 11 Democrats were elected governor during that time. Before Mitch Daniels
became governor in 2005, Democrats had held the office for 16 consecutive years. Indiana elects two senators and nine representatives to Congress. The state has 11 electoral votes in presidential elections. Seven of the districts favor the Republican Party according to the CPVI rankings; there are currently six Republicans serving as representatives and three Democrats. Historically, Republicans have been strongest in the eastern and central portions of the state, while Democrats have been strongest in the northwestern part of the state. Occasionally, certain counties in the southern part of the state will vote Democratic. Marion County, Indiana's most populated county, supported the Republican candidates from 1968 to 2000, before backing the Democrats in the 2004 and 2008 elections. Indiana's second most populated county, Lake County, is a strong supporter of the Democratic party that has not voted for a Republican since 1972. In 2005, the Bay Area Center for Voting Research rated the most liberal and conservative cities in the United States on voting statistics in the 2004 presidential election, based on 237 cities with populations of more than 100,000. Five Indiana cities were mentioned in the study. On the liberal side, Gary was ranked second and South Bend came in at 83. Regarding conservative cities, Fort Wayne was 44th, Evansville was 60th and Indianapolis was 82nd on the list.
near Indianapolis, now closed, though the Department of Defense
continues to operate a large finance center there (Defense Finance and Accounting Service
).
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
, helicopter operations out of Shelbyville
Airport and urban training at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center
. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division
is in the southwest of the state and the Army's Newport Chemical Depot
, which is now closed and turning into coal purifier plant. Also, Naval Operational Support Center Indianapolis
is home to several Navy Reserve
units, two Marine Reserve units, and a small contingent of active and full-time-support reserve personnel.
In 2000, Indiana had a work force of 3,084,100. The total gross state product in 2010 was $275.7 billion. 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. 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. 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 and research facilities of pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly
in Indianapolis, the state's largest corporation, as well as the world headquarters of Mead Johnson Nutritionals in Evansville. 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.
Indiana is located within the U.S. Corn Belt
and Grain Belt. The state has a feedlot-style system raising corn to fatten hogs and cattle. Along with corn, soybeans are also a major cash crop. Its proximity to large urban centers, such as Indianapolis
and Chicago, assure that dairying, egg production, and specialty horticulture occur.
Other crops include melons, tomatoes, grapes, mint, popping corn, and tobacco in the southern counties. 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.
In 2011 Indiana was ranked first in the Midwest and sixth in the country for best places to do business according to CEO magazine.
Indiana has a Rainy Day Fund
and for healthy reserves proportional to spending.
Indiana is one of the few states in the U.S. which do not allow a line-item veto. Indiana does not use Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
.
Indiana has a flat state income tax
rate of 3.4%. Many Indiana counties also collect income tax. The state sales tax
rate is 7%. Property tax
es 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. However, a "circuit breaker" law enacted on March 19, 2008 limits property tax
es to one percent of assessed value for homeowners, two percent for rental properties and farmland and three percent for businesses.
In Fiscal year 2011 Indiana reported one of the largest surpluses among U.S states, with an extra $1.2 billion in its accounts. Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, authorized bonus payments of up to $1,000 for state employees on Friday, July 15, 2011. An employee who “meets expectations” will get $500, those who “exceed expectations” will receive $750 and “outstanding workers” will see an extra $1,000 in their August paychecks
, located across the Wabash River from Mount Carmel, Illinois
. Indiana is also home to the coal-fired plant with the highest sulfur dioxide emissions in the United States, the Gallagher
power plant just west of New Albany. The state has an estimated coal reserves of fifty-seven billion tons; state mining operations produces thirty-five million tons of coal annually. 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.
Solar power and wind power are being investigated, and geothermal power is being used commercially. New estimates in 2006 raised the wind capacity for Indiana from 30 MW at 50 m turbine height to 40,000 MW at 70 m, which could double at 100 m, the height of newer turbines. As of the end of June 2008, Indiana has installed 130 MW of wind turbines and has under construction another 400 MW.
Sources of energy (2009) See below Navbox for individual facilities.
serves the greater Indianapolis area and has finished constructing a new passenger terminal. The new airport opened in November 2008 and offers 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 122d Fighter Wing
of the Air National Guard
), and South Bend Regional Airport
. A long-standing proposal to turn 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.
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 Base Realignment and Closure
(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
.
The southeastern part of the state is served by the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport
also across the Ohio River in Florence, Kentucky
.
Most residents Northwest Indiana
, which is primarily in the Chicago Metropolitan Area, use the two Chicago airports, O'Hare International Airport
and Chicago Midway International Airport.
In March 2011, Indiana ranked as a bottom-six "Worst" state in the American State Litter Scorecard. The Hoosier State suffers from poor effectiveness and quality of its overall statewide public space cleanliness (primarily from roadway and adjacent litter/debris)--due to state and related eradication standards and performance indicators.
The major U.S. Interstate highways in Indiana are I-64, I-164, I-65, I-265, I-465, I-865, I-69, I-469, I-70, I-74, I-80, I-90, I-94 and I-275. The various highways intersecting in and around Indianapolis
, along with its historical status as a major railroad hub, and the canals that once crossed Indiana, are the source of the state's motto, 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. Indiana allows highways of different classifications to have the same number. For example, Interstate 64 and State Road 64 both exist (rather close to each other) in Indiana, but are two distinct roads with no relation to one another.
system. Such systems are easier to implement in the glacially flattened northern and central portions 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., Crawford, Harrison, Perry, Scott, and Washington Counties); there are also counties in the northern portions of the state that have never implemented a grid, or have only partially implemented one. Some counties are also laid out in an almost diamond-like grid system (e.g. Clark, Floyd, Gibson, and Knox Counties). Such a system is also almost useless in those situations as well. Knox County once operated two different grid systems for county roads because the county was laid out using two different survey grids, but has since decided to use road names and combine roads instead.
Notably, the county road grid system of St. Joseph County, whose major city is South Bend, uses perennial (tree) names (i.e. Ash, Hickory, Ironwood, etc.) in alphabetical order for North-South roads and Presidential and other noteworthy names (i.e. Adams, Edison, Lincoln Way, etc.) in alphabetical order for East-West roads. There are exceptions to this rule in downtown South Bend and Mishawaka.
and the Norfolk Southern Railway
. Other Class I railroad
s in Indiana include the Canadian National Railway
and Soo Line Railroad
, 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
. Many recreational trails, such as the Monon Trail
in Indianapolis, have been created from abandoned rails routes.
manages three major ports which include Burns Harbor
, Jeffersonville
, and Mount Vernon
.
pressed the need for tax-supported schools, and in 1851 his advice was included in the new state constitution. Although the growth of the public school system was held up by legal entanglements, many public elementary schools were in use by 1870. Most children in Indiana attend public schools, but nearly 10% attend private schools and parochial school
s. About one-half of all college students in Indiana are enrolled in state-supported four-year schools. The largest institution is Indiana University
, the flagship campus
of which was endorsed as Indiana Seminary in 1820. Indiana State University
was established as the state's Normal School
in 1865; Purdue University
was chartered as a land-grant college
in 1869. The three other independent state universities are Vincennes University
(1802), Ball State University
(1918) and University of Southern Indiana
(1965). Many of the private colleges and universities in Indiana are affiliated with religious groups. The University of Notre Dame
and the University of Saint Francis
are popular Roman Catholic schools. Universities affiliated with Protestant denominations include Anderson University
, Butler University
, Taylor University
, DePauw University
, Earlham College
, Valparaiso University
, and University of Evansville
.
. 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 making it the largest single day sporting event in the world. The track also hosts the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard
(NASCAR
) and the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix (MotoGP). From 2000 to 2007, it hosted the United States Grand Prix
(Formula One
). Indiana is also host to two major unlimited hydroplane racing
power boat race circuits in the major H1 Unlimited league: Thunder on the Ohio
(Evansville, Indiana
) and the Madison Regatta
(Madison, Indiana
).
Indiana has a rich basketball heritage that reaches back to the formative years of the sport itself. Although James Naismith
developed 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 inspired by the story of the 1954 Indiana state champions Milan High School.
Indianapolis is home to the Indianapolis Colts
. The Colts are members of the South Division
of the American Football Conference
. The Colts have roots back to 1913 as the Dayton Triangles
. They became an official team after moving to Baltimore
, MD
, in 1953. In 1984, the Colts relocated to Indianapolis, leading to an eventual rivalry with the Baltimore Ravens
. After calling the RCA Dome
home for 25 years, the Colts currently play their home games at Lucas Oil Stadium
in Indianapolis. While in Baltimore, the Colts won the 1970 Super Bowl
. In Indianapolis, the Colts won Super Bowl XLI
, bringing the franchise total to two. In recent years the Colts have regularly competed in the NFL playoffs. The major players for the Colts include Peyton Manning
, Reggie Wayne
, Adam Vinatieri
, Dwight Freeney
, Robert Mathis
, Jeff Saturday
, and Joseph Addai
. Former players include Marvin Harrison
and Edgerrin James
.
has been awarded 11 football championships. Schools fielding NCAA Division I athletic programs include:
Government
Culture and history
Tourism and recreation
Geography
International community and business resources
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
and Great Lakes Region
Great Lakes region (North America)
The Great Lakes region of North America, occasionally known as the Third Coast or the Fresh Coast , includes the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as well as the Canadian province of Ontario...
. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is the smallest state in the continental US west of the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, the second largest of any state capital and largest state capital east of the Mississippi River.
Before it became a territory, varying cultures of indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
and historic Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
inhabited Indiana for thousands of years. Angel Mounds State Historic Site
Angel Mounds
Angel Mounds State Historic Site is located on the Ohio River in Vanderburgh and Warrick Counties eight miles southeast of Evansville and just upriver of the confluence of the Green and Ohio rivers. Administered by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Indiana State Museums...
, one of the best preserved ancient earthwork mound sites in the United States, can be found in Southwestern Indiana
Southwestern Indiana
Southwestern Indiana is a 11-county region of Indiana located at the southernmost and westernmost part of the state. As of the 2000 census, the region's combined population is 465,338. Evansville, Indiana's third largest city, is the primary hub for the region as well as the primary regional hub...
near Evansville
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
.
Residents of Indiana are known as Hoosier
Hoosier
Hoosier is the official demonym for a resident of the U.S. state of Indiana. Although residents of most U.S. states typically adopt a derivative of the state name, e.g., "Indianan" or "Indianian", natives of Indiana rarely use these. Indiana adopted the nickname "Hoosier State" more than 150...
s. The derivation of the term is disputed, but one hypothesis has "Hoosier" originating from a frontier greeting, a corruption of "Who's here?" The state's name means "Land of the Indians
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
," or simply "Indian Land." This name dates back to at least the 1760s but was first applied to the region by the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
when the Indiana Territory
Indiana Territory
The Territory of Indiana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1800, until November 7, 1816, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Indiana....
was incorporated in 1800, separating it from the Northwest Territory
Northwest Territory
The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio...
.
Today, Indiana has a diverse economy
Economy of Indiana
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...
with a gross state product of $214 billion in 2005. Indiana has several metropolitan areas with populations greater than 100,000 and a number of smaller industrial cities and towns. Indiana is home to several major sports teams and athletic events including the NFL's
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
Indianapolis Colts
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....
, the NBA's
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
Indiana Pacers
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association...
, the WNBA’s Indiana Fever
Indiana Fever
The Indiana Fever is a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded before the 2000 season began...
, and the Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...
and Brickyard 400 motorsports races
Auto racing
Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...
. The state also has several NCAA Division I athletic programs, notably the Purdue Boilermakers
Purdue Boilermakers
Boilermakers is the official nickname for the intercollegiate athletic teams of Purdue University. As is common with athletic nicknames, it is also used as colloquial designation of Purdue's students and alumni at large....
, Indiana Hoosiers
Indiana Hoosiers
The Indiana Hoosiers are the athletic teams for the Bloomington campus of Indiana University . Athletic teams sponsored by IU Bloomington include cross country, track, baseball, golf, tennis, rowing, volleyball, soccer, football and basketball...
, Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame's nickname is inherited from Irish immigrant soldiers who fought in the Civil War with the Union's Irish Brigade, , recollected among other places in the poetry of Joyce Kilmer who served with one of the Irish Brigade regiments during World War I...
, and Butler Bulldogs
Butler Bulldogs
All but one of Butler University's 19 intercollegiate teams compete in the Horizon League, along with Cleveland State, Detroit, Green Bay, Loyola, Milwaukee, UIC, Valparaiso, Wright State and Youngstown State...
.
Furthermore, the state has several universities ranked among the best in U.S. News & World Report's
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
2011 rankings. Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
, Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
, and the University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
are ranked among the top 50 in the National Universities Rankings, while Butler University
Butler University
Butler University is a private university located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university offers 60 degree programs to 4,400 students through six colleges: business, communication, education, liberal Arts and sciences, pharmacy and health...
, Valparaiso University
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso University, known colloquially as Valpo, is a regionally accredited private university located in the city of Valparaiso in the U.S. state of Indiana. Founded in 1859, it consists of five undergraduate colleges, a graduate school, a nursing school and a law school...
and the University of Evansville
University of Evansville
The University of Evansville is a small, private university with approximately 3,050 students located in Evansville, Indiana. Founded in 1854 as Moores Hill College, it is located near the interchange of the Lloyd Expressway and U.S. Route 41. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church...
are ranked among the top 10 in the Regional University Midwest Rankings. Taylor University
Taylor University
Taylor University is a private, interdenominational, evangelical Christian college located in Upland, Indiana. Founded in 1846, it is one of the oldest evangelical Christian colleges in America....
has been ranked first in the guide's America’s Best Colleges among 109 Midwest Regional Colleges for five years in a row. Additionally, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology , formerly Rose Polytechnic Institute, is a small private college specializing in teaching engineering, mathematics, and science. RHIT is highly regarded for its undergraduate engineering program, which US News and World Reports ranked in 2011 as No...
has been rated the best undergraduate engineering program by the magazine since the year 2000.
History
The first residents in what is now Indiana were the Paleo-Indians, ingressing about 8000 BCAnno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
after the melting of the glaciers at the conclusion of the Ice Age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
. Divided into small groups, the Paleo-Indians were nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
s who hunted large game
Game (food)
Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport.The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. This will be influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted view about what can or...
such as Mastodons. They created stone tools made out of chert
Chert
Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements...
by chipping, knapping and flaking
Lithic reduction
Lithic reduction involves the use of a hard hammer precursor, such as a hammerstone, a soft hammer fabricator , or a wood or antler punch to detach lithic flakes from a lump of tool stone called a lithic core . As flakes are detached in sequence, the original mass of stone is reduced; hence the...
. The subsequent phase of Indiana's Native American antiquity is called the Archaic period, which occurred between 5000 and 4000 BC. They differed from the Paleo-Indians in that they used new tools and techniques to prepare food. Such new tools included different types of spear points and knives, with various forms of notches. They also used ground stone tools such as stone axes, woodworking tools and grinding stones. During the latter part of the period, mound
Mound
A mound is a general term for an artificial heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. The most common use is in reference to natural earthen formation such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. The term may also be applied to any rounded area of topographically...
s and midden
Midden
A midden, is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, vermin, shells, sherds, lithics , and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation...
s were created, indicating that their settlements were becoming more permanent. The Archaic period ended at about 1500 BC, although some Archaic people lived until 700 BC. Afterwards, the Woodland period
Woodland period
The Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures was from roughly 1000 BCE to 1000 CE in the eastern part of North America. The term "Woodland Period" was introduced in the 1930s as a generic header for prehistoric sites falling between the Archaic hunter-gatherers and the...
took place in Indiana, where various new cultural attributes appeared. During this period, ceramics and pottery were created as well as the increase of usage in horticulture. An early Woodland period group named the Adena people
Adena culture
The Adena culture was a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 1000 to 200 BC, in a time known as the early Woodland Period. The Adena culture refers to what were probably a number of related Native American societies sharing a burial complex and ceremonial system...
had elegant burial rituals, featuring log tombs beneath earth mounds. In the middle portion of the Woodland period, the Hopewell people began exploration of long-range trade of goods. Nearing the end of the stage, an exhaustive cultivation and adaptation of agriculture to grow crops such as corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
and squash. The Woodland period ended around 1000 AD. The incoming period afterwards was known as the Mississippian
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
period, which lasted from 1000 until just before the arrival of Europeans. During this stage, large settlements were created that had similarities to towns, such as the Angel Mounds
Angel Mounds
Angel Mounds State Historic Site is located on the Ohio River in Vanderburgh and Warrick Counties eight miles southeast of Evansville and just upriver of the confluence of the Green and Ohio rivers. Administered by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Indiana State Museums...
. They had large public areas such as plazas and platform mounds, where instrumental individuals of the settlement lived or conducted rituals. Mississippian civilization collapsed in Indiana during the mid-1400s for reasons that remain unclear.
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, or Robert de LaSalle was a French explorer. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico...
was the first European to cross into Indiana after reaching present-day South Bend
South Bend, Indiana
The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...
at the Saint Joseph River
St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan)
The St. Joseph River is a river, approximately long, in southern Michigan and northern Indiana in the United States. It drains a primarily rural farming area in the watershed of Lake Michigan...
in 1679. He returned the following year to gain knowledge of northern Indiana. Canadiens fur trade
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
rs also came along and brought blankets, jewelry, tools, whiskey and weapons to trade for skins with the Native Americans. By 1702, the first trading post was established by Sieur Juchereau
Louis Juchereau de St. Denis
Louis Antoine Juchereau de St. Denis was born in Beauport, New France to Nicolas Juchereau and Marie Thérèse Giffard, the eleventh of twelve children. He was the grandson of Robert Giffard de Moncel, a surgeon who became a nobleman of New France. St...
near Vincennes
Vincennes, Indiana
Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...
. In 1715, Sieur de Vincennes
Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes
Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes, was a Canadian soldier, explorer, and friend to the Miami Nation.Vincennes was born in Quebec on January 19, 1668. His father, tanner François Bissot, was granted a seigniory for his tannery on the St. Lawrence River in 1672...
built Fort Miami at Kekionga
Kekionga
Kekionga, also known as Kiskakon or Pacan's Village, was the capital of the Miami tribe at the confluence of the Saint Joseph, Saint Marys and Maumee rivers on the western edge of the Great Black Swamp...
, now Fort Wayne. In 1717, another Canadien, Picote de Beletre, built Fort Ouiatenon
Fort Ouiatenon
Fort Ouiatenon was the first fortified European settlement in what is now called Indiana. It was a French trading post at the joining of the Tippecanoe River and the Wabash River located approximately three miles southwest of modern-day West Lafayette...
on the Wabash River
Wabash River
The Wabash River is a river in the Midwestern United States that flows southwest from northwest Ohio near Fort Recovery across northern Indiana to southern Illinois, where it forms the Illinois-Indiana border before draining into the Ohio River, of which it is the largest northern tributary...
, with the efforts to control Native American trade routes from Lake Erie
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
to the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. In 1732, Sieur de Vincennes built a second fur trading post at Vincennes. Canadien settlers, which had left the earlier post because of hostilities, came back in larger numbers. In a period of a few years however, the British arrived and contended against the Canadians for management of the fruitful fur trade. Fighting between the Canadians and British occurred throughout the 1750s as a result.
The Native American tribes of Indiana sided with the Canadians during the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
. By the conclusion of the war in 1763, the French had lost all land west of the colonies
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
, and control had been ceded to the British crown. Neighboring tribes in Indiana, however, did not give up and destroyed Fort Ouiatenon
Fort Ouiatenon
Fort Ouiatenon was the first fortified European settlement in what is now called Indiana. It was a French trading post at the joining of the Tippecanoe River and the Wabash River located approximately three miles southwest of modern-day West Lafayette...
and Fort Miami during Pontiac's Rebellion
Pontiac's Rebellion
Pontiac's War, Pontiac's Conspiracy, or Pontiac's Rebellion was a war that was launched in 1763 by a loose confederation of elements of Native American tribes primarily from the Great Lakes region, the Illinois Country, and Ohio Country who were dissatisfied with British postwar policies in the...
. The royal proclamation of 1763 ceded the land west of the Appalachians for Indian use, and was thus labeled Indian territory. In 1775, the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
began as the colonists looked to free themselves from British rule. The majority of the fighting took place in the east, but military officer George Rogers Clark
George Rogers Clark
George Rogers Clark was a soldier from Virginia and the highest ranking American military officer on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. He served as leader of the Kentucky militia throughout much of the war...
called for an army to help fight the British in the west. Clark's army won significant battles to overtake Vincennes
Vincennes, Indiana
Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...
and Fort Sackville on February 25, 1779. During the war, Clark managed to cut off British troops who were attacking the colonist from the west. His success is often credited for changing the course of the American Revolutionary War. At the end of the revolutionary war, through the treaty of Paris, the British crown ceded their claims to the land south of the Great Lakes to the newly formed United States.
Present-day Indiana became part of the Northwest Territory
Northwest Territory
The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio...
in 1787. In 1800, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
was separated from the Northwest Territory by Congress, designating the rest of the land as the Indiana Territory
Indiana Territory
The Territory of Indiana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1800, until November 7, 1816, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Indiana....
. President Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
chose William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the United States , an American military officer and politician, and the first president to die in office. He was 68 years, 23 days old when elected, the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and last President to be born before the...
as the governor of the territory and Vincennes
Vincennes, Indiana
Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...
was established as the capital. After Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
was separated and the Illinois Territory
Illinois Territory
The Territory of Illinois was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 1, 1809, until December 3, 1818, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Illinois. The area was earlier known as "Illinois Country" while under...
was formed, the size of Indiana was reduced to its current state. In 1810, Shawnee
Shawnee
The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
leader Tecumseh
Tecumseh
Tecumseh was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy which opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812...
and his brother Tenskwatawa
Tenskwatawa
Tenskwatawa, was a Native American religious and political leader of the Shawnee tribe, known as The Prophet or the Shawnee Prophet. He was the brother of Tecumseh, leader of the Shawnee...
encouraged other tribes to resist European settlement into the territory. Tensions rose and Harrison was authorized to launch a preemptive expedition against Tecumseh's Confederacy resulting in a US victory at the Battle of Tippecanoe
Battle of Tippecanoe
The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on November 7, 1811, between United States forces led by Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory and Native American warriors associated with the Shawnee leader Tecumseh. Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa were leaders of a confederacy of...
on November 7, 1811. Tecumseh was killed in 1813 during the Battle of Thames. After his death, armed resistance to United States control ended in the region. Most Native Americans in the state were later removed
Indian removals in Indiana
Indian removals in Indiana began in the early 1830s and was mostly completed by 1846. The removals were preceded by several treaties, beginning in 1795, that gradually purchased most of the state from various tribes...
through negotiations to purchase their lands in the 1820s and 1830s.
In December 1813, Corydon
Corydon, Indiana
Corydon is a town in Harrison Township, Harrison County, Indiana, United States, founded in 1808, and is known as Indiana's First State Capital. After Vincennes, Corydon was the second capital of the Indiana Territory from May 1, 1813, until December 11, 1816. After statehood, the town was the...
became the second capital of the Indiana Territory. Two years later, a petition for statehood was approved by the territorial general assembly and sent to Congress. Afterwards, an Enabling Act
Enabling Act
The Enabling Act was passed by Germany's Reichstag and signed by President Paul von Hindenburg on 23 March 1933. It was the second major step, after the Reichstag Fire Decree, through which Chancellor Adolf Hitler legally obtained plenary powers and established his dictatorship...
was passed to provide an election of delegates to write a constitution for Indiana
Constitution of Indiana
There have been two Constitutions of the State of Indiana. The first constitution was created when the Territory of Indiana sent forty-three delegates to a constitutional convention on June 10, 1816 to establish a constitution for the proposed State of Indiana after the United States Congress had...
. On June 10, 1816, delegates assembled at Corydon to write the constitution, which was completed in nineteen days. President James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
approved Indiana's admission into the union as the nineteenth state on December 11, 1816. In 1825, the state capital was moved from Corydon to Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
and 26 years later, a second constitution was adopted. Following statehood, the new government set out on an ambitious plan to transform Indiana from a wilderness frontier into a developed, well-populated, and thriving state, beginning significant demographic and economic changes. The state's founders initiated a program that led to the construction of roads, canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
s, railroads and state-funded public schools. The plans bankrupted the state
Indiana Mammoth Internal Improvement Act
The Indiana Mammoth Internal Improvement Act was a bipartisan law passed by the Indiana General Assembly and signed by Whig Governor Noah Noble in 1836 that greatly expanded the state's program of internal improvements. It added an additional $10 million to spending and funded several projects,...
and were a financial disaster, but increased land and produce value more than fourfold. The early nineteenth century saw much immigration to Indiana. The largest immigrant group to settle in Indiana were Germans, though there were also substantial numbers of immigrants from Ireland and England as well as Americans who were ethnically English
English American
English Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....
from regions such as New York, New England and Pennsylvania.
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Indiana became politically influential and played an important role in the affairs of the nation. As the first western state to mobilize for the war, Indiana's soldiers were present in all of the major engagements during the war. Indiana residents were present in both the first and last battles and the state provided 126 infantry regiments, 26 batteries of artillery and 13 regiments of cavalry to the cause of the Union. In 1861, Indiana was assigned a quota of 7,500 men to join the Union Army. So many volunteered in the first call that thousands had to be turned away. Before the war ended, Indiana contributed 208,367 men to fight and serve in the war. Casualties were over 35% among these men: 24,416 lost their lives in the conflict and over 50,000 more were wounded. The only Civil War battle fought in Indiana was the Battle of Corydon
Battle of Corydon
The Battle of Corydon was a minor engagement that took place July 9, 1863, just south of Corydon, which had been the original capital of Indiana until 1825, and was the county seat of Harrison County. The attack occurred during Morgan's Raid in the American Civil War as a force of 2,500 cavalry...
, which occurred during Morgan's Raid
Morgan's Raid
Morgan's Raid was a highly publicized incursion by Confederate cavalry into the Northern states of Indiana and Ohio during the American Civil War. The raid took place from June 11–July 26, 1863, and is named for the commander of the Confederates, Brig. Gen...
. The battle left 15 dead, 40 wounded, and 355 captured.
Following the American Civil War, Indiana industry began to grow at an accelerated rate across the northern part of the state leading to the formation of labor unions and suffrage movements. The Indiana Gas Boom
Indiana Gas Boom
The Indiana Gas Boom was a period of active drilling and production of natural gas in the Trenton Gas Field, in the US state of Indiana and the adjacent northwest part of Ohio The boom began in the early 1880s and lasted into the early twentieth century....
led to rapid industrialization during the late 19th century by providing cheap fuel to the region. In the early 20th century, Indiana developed into a strong manufacturing state
Rust Belt
The Rust Belt is a term that gained currency in the 1980s as the informal description of an area straddling the Midwestern and Northeastern United States, in which local economies traditionally garnered an increased manufacturing sector to add jobs and corporate profits...
with strong ties to the auto industry. Haynes-Apperson
Haynes-Apperson
Haynes-Apperson Company was a manufacturer of Brass Era automobiles in Kokomo, Indiana, from 1896 to 1905. It was the first automobile manufacturer in Indiana, and among the first in the United States...
, the nations first commercially successful auto company operated in Kokomo
Kokomo, Indiana
Kokomo is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Indiana, United States, Indiana's 13th largest city. It is the principal city of the Kokomo, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Howard and Tipton counties....
until 1925. The state also saw many developments with the construction of Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana in the United States, is the home of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and the Brickyard 400....
and the start many other auto industries. During the 1930s, Indiana, like the rest of the nation, was affected by the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. The economic downturn had a wide-ranging negative impact on Indiana, such as the decline of urbanization. The situation was aggravated by the Dust Bowl
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936...
, which caused an influx of migrants from the rural Midwestern United States
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
. Governor Paul V. McNutt
Paul V. McNutt
Paul Vories McNutt was an American politician who served as the 34th Governor of Indiana during the Great Depression, high commissioner to the Philippines, administrator of the Federal Security Agency, chairman of the War Manpower Commission and ambassador to the Philippines.-Family and...
's administration struggled to build a state-funded welfare system to help the overwhelmed private charities. During his administration, spending and taxes were both cut drastically in response to the depression and the state government was completely reorganized. McNutt also ended Prohibition
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
in the state and enacted the state's first income tax. On several occasions, he declared martial law to put an end to worker strikes. World War II helped lift the economy in Indiana, as the war required steel, food and other goods that were produced in Indiana. Roughly 10 percent of Indiana's population joined the armed forces while hundreds of industries earned war production contracts and began making war material. The effects of the war helped end the Great Depression.
With the conclusion of World War II, Indiana rebounded to levels of production prior to the Great Depression. Industry became the primary employer, a trend that continued into the 1960s. Urbanization during the 1950s and 1960s led to substantial growth in the state's urban centers. The auto, steel and pharmaceutical industries topped Indiana's major businesses. Indiana's population continued to grow during the years after the war, exceeding five million by the 1970 census. In the 1960s, the administration of Matthew E. Welsh
Matthew E. Welsh
Matthew Empson Welsh was the 41st Governor of Indiana from the Democratic Party, serving from 1961 to 1965. His term as governor saw a major increase in statewide taxation, including the first state sales tax, and the passage of a several important civil rights bills making Indiana one of the most...
adopted its first sales tax of two percent. Indiana schools had been desegregated in 1949. Welsh also worked with the General Assembly to pass the Indiana Civil Rights Bill, granting equal protection to minorities in seeking employment. Beginning in 1970, a series of amendments to the state constitution were proposed. With adoption, the Indiana Court of Appeals
Indiana Court of Appeals
The Indiana Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court for the state of Indiana. It is the successor to the Indiana Appellate Court.-History:...
was created and the procedure of appointing justices on the courts was adjusted. The 1973 oil crisis
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
created a recession that hurt the automotive industry in Indiana. Companies like Delco Electronics
Delco Electronics
Delco Electronics Corporation was the automotive electronics design and manufacturing subsidiary of General Motors based in Kokomo, Indiana.The name Delco came from the Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co., founded in Dayton, Ohio by Charles Kettering and Edward A...
and Delphi
Delphi (auto parts)
Delphi Automotive PLC is an automotive parts company headquartered in Troy, Michigan, USA. Delphi is one of the world's largest automotive parts manufacturers and has approximately 146,600 employees ....
began a long series of downsizing that contributed to high unemployment rates in manufacturing in Anderson
Anderson, Indiana
Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Anderson, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses Madison county. Anderson is the headquarters of the Church of God and home of Anderson University, which is...
, Muncie
Muncie, Indiana
Muncie is a city in Center Township, Delaware County in east central Indiana, best known as the home of Ball State University and the birthplace of the Ball Corporation. It is the principal city of the Muncie, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 118,769...
, and Kokomo
Kokomo, Indiana
Kokomo is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Indiana, United States, Indiana's 13th largest city. It is the principal city of the Kokomo, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Howard and Tipton counties....
. The deindustrialization trend continued until the 1980s when the national and state economy began to diversify and recover.
Geography
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, on the east by Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
and on the west by Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. The Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
separates Indiana from Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
on the southern border. Indiana is one of eight states that make up the Great Lakes region
Great Lakes region (North America)
The Great Lakes region of North America, occasionally known as the Third Coast or the Fresh Coast , includes the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as well as the Canadian province of Ontario...
. The state includes two natural regions of the United States, the Central Lowland and the Interior Low Plateau. The average altitude of Indiana is about 760 feet (231.6 m) above sea level. The highest point in the state is Hoosier Hill
Hoosier Hill
Hoosier Hill is the highest natural point in the state of Indiana at 1,257 feet . It is in a rural area of Franklin Township, Wayne County to the northwest of Bethel. The nearest intersection to the high point is Elliot Road and County Line Road...
, which is 1257 feet (383.1 m) above sea level. Only 2850 square miles (7,381.5 km²) have an altitude greater than 1000 feet (304.8 m) and this area is enclosed within 14 counties. About 4700 square miles (12,172.9 km²) have an elevation of less than 500 feet (152.4 m).
The till plain
Till plain
A till plain is an extensive flat plain of glacial till that forms when a sheet of ice becomes detached from the main body of a glacier and melts in place depositing the sediments it carried. A till plain with irregular topography is referred to as a ground moraine.-See also:*Glacial till plains...
s make up the central allotment of Indiana. Much of its appearance is a result of elements left behind by glaciers. The area includes some low hills and the soil is composed of glacial sands, gravel and clay, which results to exceptional farmland in central Indiana. The unglaciated segment of the state carries a different and off-balance surface, characterized in places by profound valleys and expeditious streams. A limited area in the southeastern area of the state possesses these types of characteristics. The soil is fertile in the valleys of Indiana, most notably Whitewater Valley which is known for its prodigious farming. In northwest Indiana, there are various sand hills and dunes, due in some measure to a former extension of the lake and wind action. In the basin of the Kankakee River
Kankakee River
The Kankakee River is a tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long, in northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois in the United States. At one time the river drained one of the largest wetlands in North America and furnished a significant portage between the Great Lakes and the...
there is an extensive scope of lakes, marshes and prairies. In northeastern Indiana there is a region of tall moraine
Moraine
A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...
s, one of which is 200 to 500 feet (61 to 150 m) deep, 25 miles (40.2 km) wide and stretching across a distance of 100 miles (160.9 km).
The Wabash River
Wabash River
The Wabash River is a river in the Midwestern United States that flows southwest from northwest Ohio near Fort Recovery across northern Indiana to southern Illinois, where it forms the Illinois-Indiana border before draining into the Ohio River, of which it is the largest northern tributary...
, which is the longest free-flowing river east of the Mississippi, is the official river of Indiana. At 475 miles (764 km) in length, the river bisects the state from northeast to southwest before flowing south, mostly along the Indiana-Illinois border. The river has been the subject of several songs, such as On the Banks of the Wabash
On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away
"On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" was among the best-selling songs of the 19th century in terms of sheet music sold. Written and composed by American songwriter Paul Dresser, it was published by the Tin Pan Alley firm of Howley, Haviland & Co. in October 1897. The lyrics of the ballad...
, The Wabash Cannonball
Wabash Cannonball
"The Wabash Cannonball" is an American folk song about a fictional train, thought to have originated in the late nineteenth century. Its first documented appearance was on sheet music published in 1882, titled "" and credited to J. A. Roff...
and Back Home Again, In Indiana
Back Home Again in Indiana
" Indiana" is a song composed by Ballard MacDonald and James F. Hanley, first published in January of 1917. While it is not the official state song of the U.S...
.
The Kankakee River
Kankakee River
The Kankakee River is a tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long, in northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois in the United States. At one time the river drained one of the largest wetlands in North America and furnished a significant portage between the Great Lakes and the...
passes through northern Indiana before emptying into the Illinois River
Illinois River
The Illinois River is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately long, in the State of Illinois. The river drains a large section of central Illinois, with a drainage basin of . This river was important among Native Americans and early French traders as the principal water route...
and serves as a demarcating line between suburban northwest Indiana and the rest of the state. There are over 1,000 lakes in Indiana. Indiana borders Lake Michigan where the Port of Indiana
Port of Indiana
The Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor is an industrial area, founded in 1965 and located on the Lake Michigan shore of Indiana at the intersection of U.S. Highway 12 and Indiana 249. The primary work done in the area is the manufacturing of steel, and the port area is dominated by steel mills...
operates the state's largest shipping port. Tippecanoe Lake is the deepest lake in the state reaching depths at nearly 120 feet (36.6 m) while Lake Wawasee
Lake Wawasee
Lake Wawasee, formerly Turkey Lake, is a natural lake southeast of Syracuse in Kosciusko County, Indiana, United States. It is the largest natural lake in Indiana. It is located just east of Indiana State Road 13.-History:...
is the largest natural lake in Indiana.
Climate
Indiana has a humid continental climateHumid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters....
, with cool winters and warm, irriguous summers. The extreme southern portion of the state is within the humid subtropical climate
Humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a climate zone characterized by hot, humid summers and mild to cool winters...
area and receives more precipitation than other parts of Indiana. Temperatures generally diverge from the north and south sections of the state. In the middle of the winter, average high/low temperatures range from around 30 °F/15 °F (−1 °C/-10 °C) in the far north to 39 °F/22 °F (4 °C/-6 °C) in the far south. In the middle of summer there is generally a little less variation across the state, as average high/low temperatures range from around 84 °F/64 °F (29 °C/18 °C) in the far north to 90 °F/69 °F (32 °C/21 °C) in the far south. The record high temperature for the state was 116 °F (47 °C) set on July 14, 1936 at Collegeville
Collegeville, Indiana
Collegeville is a census-designated place in Jasper County, Indiana, United States. The population was 330 at the 2010 census. Collegeville is commonly mistaken for Rensselaer, Indiana. Collegeville is home to Saint Joseph's College, the source of the town's name. Collegeville is a...
. The record low was −36 °F (−38 °C) on January 19, 1994 at New Whiteland
New Whiteland, Indiana
New Whiteland is a town in Pleasant Township, Johnson County, Indiana, United States. The population was 5,472 at the 2010 census.-Geography:New Whiteland is located at ....
. The growing season
Growing season
In botany, horticulture, and agriculture the growing season is the period of each year when native plants and ornamental plants grow; and when crops can be grown....
typically spans from 155 days in the north and 185 days in the south. While droughts occasionally occur in the state, rainfall totals are administered relatively equally throughout the year. Precipitation totals range from 35 inches (88.9 cm) near Lake Michigan to 45 inches (114.3 cm) along the Ohio River, with the state average being 40 inches (101.6 cm). The annual snowfall in Indiana varies widely across the state, ranging from 80 inches (203.2 cm) in the northwest along Lake Michigan to 14 inches (35.6 cm) in the far south. Lake effect snow
Lake effect snow
Lake-effect snow is produced during cooler atmospheric conditions when cold winds move across long expanses of warmer lake water, providing energy and picking up water vapor which freezes and is deposited on the leeward shores...
accounts for roughly half of the snowfall in northwest and northcentral Indiana, due to the effects of the moisture and relative warmth of Lake Michigan upwind. The mean wind speed is 8 miles per hour (12.9 km/h). Indiana is one of the most tornado-prone states in the country, ranking sixth in a list by VorTek, an Alabama company. The city of South Bend was ranked the 14th most tornado-prone city in the country, ahead of cities such as Houston and Wichita
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
. The same company also published a list of the most tornado prone cities and states in April, with Indiana coming in first and South Bend ranking 16th. Despite its vulnerability, Indiana is not a part of tornado alley
Tornado Alley
Tornado Alley is a colloquial and popular media term that most often refers to the area of the United States where tornadoes are most frequent. Although an official location is not defined, the area between the Rocky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains is usually associated with it.The areas...
.
| Average Precipitation in Indiana | ||||||||||||
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Annum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.48 | 2.27 | 3.36 | 3.89 | 4.46 | 4.19 | 4.22 | 3.91 | 3.12 | 3.02 | 3.44 | 3.13 | 41.49 |
Time zones
Indiana is one of thirteen U.S. states that is divided into more than one time zone. Indiana's time zone
Time zone
A time zone is a region on Earth that has a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. In order for the same clock time to always correspond to the same portion of the day as the Earth rotates , different places on the Earth need to have different clock times...
s have fluctuated over the past century. At present most of the state observes Eastern Time
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
; six counties near Chicago and six near Evansville observe Central Time. Debate continues on the matter.
Before 2006, most of Indiana did not observe daylight saving time
Daylight saving time
Daylight saving time —also summer time in several countries including in British English and European official terminology —is the practice of temporarily advancing clocks during the summertime so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less...
(DST). Some counties within this area, particularly Floyd
Floyd County, Indiana
Floyd County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 74,578. The county seat is New Albany. Floyd County is the county with the second smallest land area in the entire state...
, Clark
Clark County, Indiana
Clark County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana, located directly across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. At the 2010 Census, the population was 110,232. The county seat is Jeffersonville. Clarksville is also a major city in the county...
, and Harrison
Harrison County, Indiana
Harrison County is a county located in the far southern part of the U.S. state of Indiana along the Ohio River. It is divided into twelve townships, and the county seat is Corydon, the former capital of Indiana. The county is part of the larger Louisville/Jefferson County, KY–IN Metropolitan...
counties near Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, and Ohio
Ohio County, Indiana
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,623 people, 2,201 households, and 1,586 families residing in the county. The population density was 65 people per square mile . There were 2,424 housing units at an average density of 28 per square mile...
and Dearborn
Dearborn County, Indiana
Dearborn County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 50,047. It is part of the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky metropolitan area. The county seat is Lawrenceburg.-History:...
counties near Cincinnati, Ohio, unofficially observed DST by local custom. Since April 2006 the entire state observes DST.
Geographic and statistical areas
Indiana is divided into 92 counties. Only one, MarionMarion County, Indiana
Marion County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. Census 2010 recorded a population of 903,393, making it the largest county in the state and 55th most populated county in the country, greater than the population of six states. The county seat is Indianapolis, the state capital and...
, is a consolidated city-county.
Important cities and towns
Indianapolis, the current capital of Indiana is the third capital in the history of the state. The territorial capitals were VincennesVincennes, Indiana
Vincennes is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Indiana, United States. It is located on the Wabash River in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 18,701 at the 2000 census...
and later Corydon
Corydon, Indiana
Corydon is a town in Harrison Township, Harrison County, Indiana, United States, founded in 1808, and is known as Indiana's First State Capital. After Vincennes, Corydon was the second capital of the Indiana Territory from May 1, 1813, until December 11, 1816. After statehood, the town was the...
which became the first state capital when Indiana became a state. The center of population in Indiana as well as the geographic center of Indiana are both located near Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
. Indiana has four large metropolitan areas anchored by in-state cities;
Pictured below are the cities larger than 55,000 in order of population with their most current population estimates from the 2010 United States Census.
Major Cities (population > 100,000 and above)
Secondary Cities (population > 100,000 and under)
|
Population
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
Irish American
Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
(10.8%) and Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
(3.0%). Most of those citing American ancestry are actually of English descent, but have family that has been in North America for so long, in many cases since the early colonial era
British America
For American people of British descent, see British American.British America is the anachronistic term used to refer to the territories under the control of the Crown or Parliament in present day North America , Central America, the Caribbean, and Guyana...
, that they identify simply as "American". In the 1980 census 1,776,144 people claimed German ancestry, 1,356,135 claimed English ancestry and 1,017,944 claimed Irish ancestry out of a total population of 4,241,975 making the state 42% German, 32% English and 24% Irish..
The center of population
Center of population
In demographics, the center of population of a region is a geographical point that describes a centerpoint of the region's population...
of Indiana is located in Hamilton County
Hamilton County, Indiana
Hamilton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. Census 2010 recorded a population of 274,569. The county seat is Noblesville....
, in the town of Sheridan
Sheridan, Indiana
Sheridan is a town in Adams Township, Hamilton County, Indiana, United States. The population was 2,665 at the 2010 census. The center of population of Indiana is located just northwest of Sheridan.- Geography :...
. 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
Hamilton County, Indiana
Hamilton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. Census 2010 recorded a population of 274,569. The county seat is Noblesville....
, Hendricks
Hendricks County, Indiana
- Towns :*Amo*Avon*Brownsburg*Clayton*Coatesville*Danville*Lizton*North Salem*Pittsboro*Plainfield*Stilesville-Townships:*Brown*Center*Clay*Eel River*Franklin*Guilford*Liberty*Lincoln*Marion*Middle*Union*Washington-Further reading:...
, Johnson
Johnson County, Indiana
As of the census of 2000, there were 115,209 people, 42,434 households, and 31,613 families residing in the county. The population density was 360 people per square mile . There were 45,095 housing units at an average density of 141 per square mile...
, and Hancock
Hancock County, Indiana
Hancock County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 70,002. The county seat is Greenfield.-Geography:...
. The other county is Dearborn County
Dearborn County, Indiana
Dearborn County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 50,047. It is part of the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky metropolitan area. The county seat is Lawrenceburg.-History:...
, which is near Cincinnati. Hamilton County has also been the fastest growing county in the area consisting of Indiana and its bordering states of Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky and the 20th fastest growing county in the country.
In 2005, the median household income for Indiana residents was $43,993. Nearly 498,700 Indiana households had incomes from $50,000 to $74,999, accounting for 20% of all households. Hamilton County’s median household income is nearly $35,000 higher than the Indiana average. At $78,932, it ranks seventh in the country among counties with less than 250,000 people. The next highest median incomes in Indiana are also found in the Indianapolis suburbs; Hendricks County has a median of $57,538, followed by Johnson County at $56,251.
Religion
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...
with 288,308. A study by the Graduate Center found that 20 percent are Roman Catholic, 14 percent belong to different Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
churches, 10 percent are other Christians, nine percent are Methodist, and six percent are Lutheran. The study also found that 16 percent are secular.
Indiana is home to the St. Meinrad Archabbey
St. Meinrad Archabbey
Saint Meinrad Archabbey in Spencer County, Indiana, USA, was founded by monks from Einsiedeln Abbey on March 21, 1854, and is home to approximately 98 monks. It is one of only two archabbeys in the United States and one of 11 in the world....
, one of two archabbeys in the United States and one of 11 in the world. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has one of its two seminaries in Fort Wayne, IN. Two conservative denominations, the Free Methodist Church
Free Methodist Church
The Free Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination within the holiness movement. It is evangelical in nature and has its roots in the Arminian-Wesleyan tradition....
and the Wesleyan Church
Wesleyan Church
"Wesleyan" has been used in the title of a number of historic and current denominations, although the subject of this article is the only denomination to use that specific title...
, have their headquarters in Indianapolis as does the Christian Church
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church is a Mainline Protestant denomination in North America. It is often referred to as The Christian Church, The Disciples of Christ, or more simply as The Disciples...
. The Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches
Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches
The Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches is a theologically conservative fellowship of Brethren churches descended from the Schwarzenau Brethren movement of Alexander Mack of Germany.-History:...
maintains offices and publishing work in Winona Lake
Winona Lake, Indiana
Winona Lake is a town in Wayne Township, Kosciusko County, Indiana, United States. The population was 4,908 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Winona Lake is located at...
. Huntington
Huntington, Indiana
Huntington, known as the "Lime City", is a small city in and the county seat of Huntington County, Indiana, United States. It is in Huntington Township and Union Township...
serves as the home to the Church of the United Brethren in Christ
Church of the United Brethren in Christ
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ is an evangelical Christian denomination based in Huntington, Indiana. It is a Protestant denomination of episcopal structure, Arminian theology, with roots in the Mennonite and German Reformed communities of 18th century Pennsylvania, as well as close...
. Anderson
Anderson, Indiana
Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Anderson, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses Madison county. Anderson is the headquarters of the Church of God and home of Anderson University, which is...
is home to the headquarters of the Church of God. The headquarters of the Missionary Church
Missionary Church
The Missionary Church is an evangelical Christian denomination of Anabaptist origins with Wesleyan, Pietist, and Keswickian influences.-Faith and practice:...
is located in Fort Wayne. The Friends United Meeting
Friends United Meeting
Friends United Meeting is an association of twenty-six yearly meetings of the Religious Society of Friends in North America, Africa, and the Caribbean. In addition there are several individual Monthly meetings and organizations that are members of FUM...
of the Religious Society of Friends
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
, the largest branch of American Quakerism, is based in Richmond
Richmond, Indiana
Richmond is a city largely within Wayne Township, Wayne County, in east central Indiana, United States, which borders Ohio. The city also includes the Richmond Municipal Airport, which is in Boston Township and separated from the rest of the city...
, which also houses the oldest Quaker seminary in the United States, the Earlham School of Religion
Earlham School of Religion
Earlham School of Religion , a graduate division of Earlham College, located in Richmond, Indiana, is the oldest graduate seminary associated with the Religious Society of Friends . ESR was founded in 1960 by Wilmer Cooper, D. Elton Trueblood and others for the training of Quaker ministers...
. The Islamic Society of North America
Islamic Society of North America
The Islamic Society of North America , based in Plainfield, Indiana, USA, is a Muslim umbrella group. It has been described in the media as the largest Muslim organization in North America.-History:...
is headquartered in Plainfield
Plainfield, Indiana
As of the census of 2000, there were 18,396 people, 7,051 households, and 4,914 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,023.1 people per square mile . There were 7,449 housing units at an average density of 414.3 per square mile...
.
Indiana has 100,000 Muslims and 17,000 Jews.
Cities and towns
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
is by far the largest city in Indiana and 11th largest in the United States (when looking at its consolidated population within Marion County), according to the 2010 Census. Three other cities in Indiana have a population greater than 100,000: Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana...
(253,617), Evansville
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
(179,703) and South Bend
South Bend, Indiana
The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...
(101,168). Since 2000, Fishers
Fishers, Indiana
Fishers is a town located in Fall Creek and Delaware townships, Hamilton County, Indiana, with a population of 76,794, according to the 2010 census. A suburb of Indianapolis, Fishers has grown rapidly in recent decades: about 350 people lived there in 1963, 2,000 in 1980, and only 7,200 as recently...
has seen the largest population rise amongst the state’s 20 largest cities with an increase of 100 percent. Hammond
Hammond, Indiana
Hammond is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The population was 80,830 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Hammond is located at ....
and Gary
Gary, Indiana
Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known...
have seen the largest population declines regarding the top 20 largest cities since 2000, with a decrease of 6.8 and 21.0 percent respectively. Other cities that have seen extensive growth since 2000 are Noblesville
Noblesville, Indiana
Noblesville is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Indiana, United States, located just north of Indianapolis. The population was 51,969 at the 2010 census making it the 14th largest city/town in the state, up from 19th in 2007...
(39.4 percent), Greenwood
Greenwood, Indiana
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 36,037 people, 14,931 households, and 9,600 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,524.8 people per square mile . There were 16,042 housing units at an average density of 1,123.9 per square mile...
(81 percent), Carmel
Carmel, Indiana
Carmel is a city in Hamilton County, Indiana, United States located immediately north of Indianapolis, Indiana. The population was 79,191 at the 2010 census, and is one of the most affluent communities in the Midwest....
(21.4 percent) and Lawrence
Lawrence, Indiana
As of the census of 2000, there were 38,915 people, 14,853 households, and 10,337 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,937.8 people per square mile . There were 16,292 housing units at an average density of 811.3 per square mile...
(9.3 percent). Meanwhile, Evansville
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
(−4.2 percent), Anderson
Anderson, Indiana
Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Anderson, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses Madison county. Anderson is the headquarters of the Church of God and home of Anderson University, which is...
(−4 percent) and Muncie
Muncie, Indiana
Muncie is a city in Center Township, Delaware County in east central Indiana, best known as the home of Ball State University and the birthplace of the Ball Corporation. It is the principal city of the Muncie, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 118,769...
(−3.9 percent) are cities that have seen the steepest decline in population in the state. Indianapolis has the largest metropolitan area in the state and 33rd largest
Table of United States Metropolitan Statistical Areas
thumb|An enlargeable map of the 942 [[Core Based Statistical Area]]s of the [[United States]]. The 367 [[Metropolitan Statistical Area]]s are shown in red....
in the country. It consists of Marion County
Marion County, Indiana
Marion County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. Census 2010 recorded a population of 903,393, making it the largest county in the state and 55th most populated county in the country, greater than the population of six states. The county seat is Indianapolis, the state capital and...
and eight surrounding counties in central Indiana. Altogether there are 13 metropolitan areas in Indiana.
Law and government
Governor of Indiana
The Governor of Indiana is the chief executive of the state of Indiana. The governor is elected to a four-year term, and responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of the functions of many agencies of the Indiana state government. The governor also shares power with other statewide...
serves as the chief executive of the state and has the authority to manage the government as established in the Constitution of Indiana. The governor and the lieutenant governor
Lieutenant Governor of Indiana
The Lieutenant Governor of Indiana is a constitutional office in the US State of Indiana. Republican Becky Skillman, whose term expires in January 2013, is the incumbent...
are jointly elected to four-year terms, with gubernatorial elections running concurrent with United States presidential elections (1996,2000,2004,2008, etc.). The governor may not serve more than two consecutive terms. The governor works with the Indiana General Assembly
Indiana General Assembly
The Indiana General Assembly is the state legislature, or legislative branch, of the state of Indiana. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the Indiana House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Indiana Senate...
and the Supreme Court of Indiana
Supreme Court of Indiana
The Supreme Court of Indiana is the state supreme court of Indiana. The court was established by Article Seven of the Indiana Constitution and is the highest judicial authority within Indiana...
to govern the state and has the authority to adjust the other branches. Special sessions of the General Assembly can be called upon by the governor as well as have the power to select and remove leaders of nearly all state departments, boards and commissions. Other notable powers include calling out the Indiana Guard Reserve
Indiana Guard Reserve
The Indiana Guard Reserve, formerly the Liberty Guard and the Indiana Legion, is a militia force that serves as the State Defense Force of the State of Indiana. The Indiana Guard Reserve serves under the exclusive authority of the Governor of the State of Indiana through his executive agent for...
or the Indiana National Guard
Indiana National Guard
The Indiana National Guard is the armed force of the state of Indiana. It consists of the Indiana Army National Guard and the Indiana Air National Guard, and is part of the larger Army National Guard and the Air National Guard...
in times of emergency or disaster, issuing pardons or commuting the sentence of any criminal offenders except in cases of treason or impeachment and possessing an abundant amount of statutory authority. The lieutenant governor serves as the President of the Senate and is responsible for ensuring that the senate rules are acted in accordance with by its constituents. The lieutenant governor can only vote to break ties. If the governor dies in office, becomes permanently incapacitated, resigns or is impeached, the lieutenant governor becomes governor. If both the governor and lieutenant governor positions are unoccupied, the Senate President pro tempore becomes governor.
The Indiana General Assembly is composed of a 50-member Senate
Indiana Senate
The Indiana Senate is the upper house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The Senate is composed of 50 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. Senators serve four-year terms without term limits...
and 100-member House of Representatives
Indiana House of Representatives
The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House members serve two-year terms without term limits...
. The Senate is the upper house
Upper house
An upper house, often called a senate, is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house; a legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral.- Possible specific characteristics :...
of the General Assembly and the House of Representatives is the lower house
Lower house
A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power...
. The General Assembly has exclusive legislative authority within the state government. Both the Senate and House of Representatives can introduce legislation, with the exception that the Senate is not authorized to initiate legislation that will affect revenue. Bills are debated and passed separately in each house, but must be passed by both houses before they can submitted to the Governor. The legislature can nullify a veto from the governor with a majority vote of full membership in the Senate and House of Representatives. Each law passed by the General Assembly must be used without exception to the entire state. The General Assembly has no authority to create legislation that targets only a particular community. The General Assembly can manage the state's judiciary system by arranging the size of the courts and the bounds of their districts. It also can oversee the activities of the executive branch of the state government, has restricted power to regulate the county governments within the state, and has exclusive power to initiate the method to alter the Indiana Constitution.
The Indiana Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Indiana
The Supreme Court of Indiana is the state supreme court of Indiana. The court was established by Article Seven of the Indiana Constitution and is the highest judicial authority within Indiana...
is made up of five judges with a Court of Appeals
Indiana Court of Appeals
The Indiana Court of Appeals is the intermediate-level appellate court for the state of Indiana. It is the successor to the Indiana Appellate Court.-History:...
composed of 15 judges. The governor selects judges for the supreme and appeal courts from a group of applicants chosen by a special commission. After serving for two years, the judges must acquire the support of the electorate to serve for a 10-year term. In nearly all cases, the Supreme Court does not have original jurisdiction
Original jurisdiction
The original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, when a court has the power to review a lower court's decision.-France:...
and can only hear cases that are petitioned to the court following being heard in lower courts. Local circuit courts are where the majority of cases begin with a trial and the consequence decided by the jury. The Supreme Court does have original and sole jurisdiction in certain specific areas including the practice of law, discipline or disbarment of Judges appointed to the lower state courts, and supervision over the exercise of jurisdiction by the other lower courts of the State.
The state is divided into 92 counties
County (United States)
In the United States, a county is a geographic subdivision of a state , usually assigned some governmental authority. The term "county" is used in 48 of the 50 states; Louisiana is divided into parishes and Alaska into boroughs. Parishes and boroughs are called "county-equivalents" by the U.S...
, which are led by a board of county commissioners. 90 counties in Indiana have their own circuit court
Circuit court
Circuit court is the name of court systems in several common law jurisdictions.-History:King Henry II instituted the custom of having judges ride around the countryside each year to hear appeals, rather than forcing everyone to bring their appeals to London...
with a judge elected for a six-year term. The remaining two counties, Dearborn and Ohio, are combined into one circuit. Many counties operate superior court
Superior court
In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general competence which typically has unlimited jurisdiction with regard to civil and criminal legal cases...
s in addition to the circuit court. In densely populated counties where the caseload is traditionally greater, separate courts have been established to solely hear either juvenile, criminal, probate or small claims cases. The establishment, frequency and jurisdiction of these additional courts varies greatly from county to county. There are 85 city and town courts in Indiana municipalities, created by local ordinance, typically handling minor offenses and not considered courts of record. County officials that are elected to four-year terms include an auditor, recorder, treasurer, sheriff, coroner and clerk of the circuit court. All incorporated cities in Indiana have a mayor and council form of municipal government. Towns are governed by a town council and townships are governed by a township trustee and advisory board.
Politics
| Year | Republican Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S... |
Democratic Democratic Party (United States) The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous... |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 United States presidential election, 2008 The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365... |
48.83% 1,345,648 | 49.86% 1,374,039 |
| 2004 United States presidential election, 2004 The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator... |
59.94% 1,479,438 | 39.26% 969,011 |
| 2000 United States presidential election, 2000 The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President.... |
56.65% 1,245,836 | 41.01% 901,980 |
| 1996 United States presidential election, 1996 The United States presidential election of 1996 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of President Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee and the Republican national ticket of former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas for President and former Housing Secretary Jack... |
47.13% 1,006,693 | 41.55% 887,424 |
| 1992 United States presidential election, 1992 The United States presidential election of 1992 had three major candidates: Incumbent Republican President George Bush; Democratic Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, and independent Texas businessman Ross Perot.... |
42.91% 989,375 | 36.79% 848,420 |
| 1988 United States presidential election, 1988 The United States presidential election of 1988 featured no incumbent president, as President Ronald Reagan was unable to seek re-election after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. Reagan's Vice President, George H. W. Bush, won the Republican nomination, while the... |
59.84% 1,297,763 | 39.69% 860,643 |
| 1984 United States presidential election, 1984 The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan was helped by a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1981–1982... |
61.67% 1,377,230 | 37.68% 841,481 |
| 1980 United States presidential election, 1980 The United States presidential election of 1980 featured a contest between incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter and his Republican opponent, Ronald Reagan, as well as Republican Congressman John B. Anderson, who ran as an independent... |
56.01% 1,255,656 | 37.65% 844,197 |
| 1976 United States presidential election, 1976 The United States presidential election of 1976 followed the resignation of President Richard Nixon in the wake of the Watergate scandal. It pitted incumbent President Gerald Ford, the Republican candidate, against the relatively unknown former governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter, the Democratic... |
53.32% 1,183,958 | 45.70% 1,014,714 |
| 1972 United States presidential election, 1972 The United States presidential election of 1972 was the 47th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was held on November 7, 1972. The Democratic Party's nomination was eventually won by Senator George McGovern, who ran an anti-war campaign against incumbent Republican President Richard... |
66.11% 1,405,154 | 33.34% 708,568 |
| 1968 United States presidential election, 1968 The United States presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial United States presidential election. Coming four years after Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson won in a historic landslide, it saw Johnson forced out of the race and Republican Richard Nixon elected... |
50.29% 1,067,885 | 37.99% 806,659 |
| 1964 United States presidential election, 1964 The United States presidential election of 1964 was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had come to office less than a year earlier following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. Johnson, who had successfully associated himself with Kennedy's... |
43.56% 911,118 | 55.98% 1,170,848 |
| 1960 United States presidential election, 1960 The United States presidential election of 1960 was the 44th American presidential election, held on November 8, 1960, for the term beginning January 20, 1961, and ending January 20, 1965. The incumbent president, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, was not eligible to run again. The Republican Party... |
55.03% 1,175,120 | 44.60% 952,358 |
From 1880 to 1924, a resident of Indiana was included in all but one presidential election. Indiana Representative William Hayden English
William Hayden English
William Hayden English was an American politician from Indiana.William English was most famous for his role in the passage of the infamous, pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution of Kansas in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1858...
was nominated for Vice-President and ran with Winfield Scott Hancock in the 1880 election
United States presidential election, 1880
The United States presidential election of 1880 was largely seen as a referendum on the end of Reconstruction in Southern states carried out by the Republicans. There were no pressing issues of the day save tariffs, with the Republicans supporting higher tariffs and the Democrats supporting lower...
. In 1884, former Indiana Governor Thomas A. Hendricks
Thomas A. Hendricks
Thomas Andrews Hendricks was an American politician who served as a Representative and a Senator from Indiana, the 16th Governor of Indiana , and the 21st Vice President of the United States...
was elected Vice-President of the United States. He served until his death on November 25, 1885, under President Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
. In 1888, Indiana Senator Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States . Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there...
was elected President of the United States and served one term. He remains the only U.S. President from Indiana. Indiana Senator Charles W. Fairbanks
Charles W. Fairbanks
Charles Warren Fairbanks was a Senator from Indiana and the 26th Vice President of the United States ....
was elected Vice-President in 1904, serving under President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
until 1913. Fairbanks made another run for Vice-President with Charles Evans Hughes
Charles Evans Hughes
Charles Evans Hughes, Sr. was an American statesman, lawyer and Republican politician from New York. He served as the 36th Governor of New York , Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States , United States Secretary of State , a judge on the Court of International Justice , and...
in 1912, but they both lost to Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
and Indiana Governor Thomas R. Marshall
Thomas R. Marshall
Thomas Riley Marshall was an American Democratic politician who served as the 28th Vice President of the United States under Woodrow Wilson...
, who served as Vice-President from 1913 until 1921. Not until 1988 did another presidential election involved a native of Indiana, when Senator Dan Quayle
Dan Quayle
James Danforth "Dan" Quayle served as the 44th Vice President of the United States, serving with President George H. W. Bush . He served as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from the state of Indiana....
was elected Vice-President and served one term with George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
.
Indiana has long been considered to be a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
stronghold, particularly in Presidential races, but the Cook Partisan Voting Index
Cook Partisan Voting Index
The Cook Partisan Voting Index , sometimes referred to as simply the Partisan Voting Index , is a measurement of how strongly an American congressional district or state leans toward one political party compared to the nation as a whole...
(CPVI) now rates Indiana as only R+5, a smaller Republican edge than is assigned to 20 of the 28 "red" states. Indiana was one of only ten states to support Republican Wendell Willkie
Wendell Willkie
Wendell Lewis Willkie was a corporate lawyer in the United States and a dark horse who became the Republican Party nominee for the president in 1940. A member of the liberal wing of the GOP, he crusaded against those domestic policies of the New Deal that he thought were inefficient and...
in 1940. On 14 occasions has the Republican candidate defeated the Democrat by a double digit margin in the state, including six times where a Republican won the state by more than 20%. In 2000 and 2004, George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
won the state by a wide margin while the election was much closer overall. The state has only supported a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
for president five times since 1900. In 1912, Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
became the first Democrat to win the state with 43% of the vote. 20 years later, Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
won the state with 55% of the vote over incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
. Roosevelt won the state again in 1936. In 1964, 56% of voters supported Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
over Republican Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
. 44 years later, Democrat Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
narrowly won the state against John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
50% to 49%.
While only five Democratic presidential nominees have carried Indiana since 1900, 11 Democrats were elected governor during that time. Before Mitch Daniels
Mitch Daniels
Mitchell Elias "Mitch" Daniels, Jr. is the 49th and current Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana. A Republican, he began his first four-year term as governor on January 10, 2005, and was elected to his second term by an 18-point margin on November 4, 2008. Previously, he was the Director of the...
became governor in 2005, Democrats had held the office for 16 consecutive years. Indiana elects two senators and nine representatives to Congress. The state has 11 electoral votes in presidential elections. Seven of the districts favor the Republican Party according to the CPVI rankings; there are currently six Republicans serving as representatives and three Democrats. Historically, Republicans have been strongest in the eastern and central portions of the state, while Democrats have been strongest in the northwestern part of the state. Occasionally, certain counties in the southern part of the state will vote Democratic. Marion County, Indiana's most populated county, supported the Republican candidates from 1968 to 2000, before backing the Democrats in the 2004 and 2008 elections. Indiana's second most populated county, Lake County, is a strong supporter of the Democratic party that has not voted for a Republican since 1972. In 2005, the Bay Area Center for Voting Research rated the most liberal and conservative cities in the United States on voting statistics in the 2004 presidential election, based on 237 cities with populations of more than 100,000. Five Indiana cities were mentioned in the study. On the liberal side, Gary was ranked second and South Bend came in at 83. Regarding conservative cities, Fort Wayne was 44th, Evansville was 60th and Indianapolis was 82nd on the list.
Military installations
Indiana used to be home to two major military installations, Grissom Air Force Base near Peru (realigned to an Air Force Reserve installation in 1994) and Fort Benjamin HarrisonFort Benjamin Harrison
Fort Benjamin Harrison was a U.S. Army post located in suburban Lawrence, Indiana, northeast of Indianapolis. It is named for the 23rd United States President, Benjamin Harrison. Land was purchased in 1903, with the post being officially named for President Harrison in honor of Indianapolis being...
near Indianapolis, now closed, though the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
continues to operate a large finance center there (Defense Finance and Accounting Service
Defense Finance and Accounting Service
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service is an agency of the United States Department of Defense that provides finance and accounting services for the civil and military members of the Department. Headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, it was activated on Jan. 18, 1991...
).
Current active installations include Air National Guard
Air National Guard
The Air National Guard , often referred to as the Air Guard, is the air force militia organized by each of the fifty U.S. states, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia of the United States. Established under Title 10 and...
fighter units at Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana...
, and Terre Haute airports (to be consolidated at Fort Wayne under the 2005 BRAC proposal
Base Realignment and Closure, 2005
The preliminary 2005 Base Realignment and Closure list was released by the United States Department of Defense on May 13, 2005. It is the fifth Base Realignment and Closure proposal generated since the process was created in 1988. It recommends closing 33 major United States military bases and...
, with the Terre Haute facility remaining open as a non-flying installation). The Army National Guard
Army National Guard
Established under Title 10 and Title 32 of the U.S. Code, the Army National Guard is part of the National Guard and is divided up into subordinate units stationed in each of the 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia operating under their respective governors...
conducts operations at Camp Atterbury
Camp Atterbury
Camp Atterbury, near Edinburgh, Indiana, USA, is a training base of the Indiana National Guard. It was planned just months before the U.S. entry into World War II. Originally surveyed and researched by the Hurd Company, the present site was recommended to Congress in 1941. Construction commenced...
in Edinburgh, Indiana
Edinburgh, Indiana
Edinburgh is a town in Bartholomew, Johnson, and Shelby Counties in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 4,480 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Columbus, Indiana metropolitan statistical area. Edinburgh was named in honor of Edinburgh, Scotland and for many years was pronounced the...
, helicopter operations out of Shelbyville
Shelbyville, Indiana
Shelbyville is a city in Addison Township, Shelby County, Indiana, United States. The population was 17,951 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Shelby County...
Airport and urban training at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center
Muscatatuck Urban Training Center
Muscatatuck Urban Training Center is a 1,000 acre urban training facility located near Butlerville, Indiana. MUTC is used to train civilian first responders, Foreign Service Institute, joint civilian/military response operations, and military urban warfare...
. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division
Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division
Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division is the principal tenant command located at Naval Support Activity Crane. NSA Crane is a United States Navy installation located approximately southwest of Bloomington, Indiana and predominantly located in Martin County, but small parts also extend into...
is in the southwest of the state and the Army's Newport Chemical Depot
Newport Chemical Depot
The Newport Chemical Depot, previously known as the Wabash River Ordinance Works and the Newport Army Ammunition Plant, was a bulk chemical storage and destruction facility in west central Indiana, thirty miles north of Terre Haute operated by the United States Army...
, which is now closed and turning into coal purifier plant. Also, Naval Operational Support Center Indianapolis
Heslar Naval Armory
Heslar Naval Armory was constructed in 1936 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, on the shore of White River as a Works Progress Administration construction project. It was designed by architect Ben H. Bacon and reflects an Art-Moderne style...
is home to several Navy Reserve
United States Navy Reserve
The United States Navy Reserve, until 2005 known as the United States Naval Reserve, is the Reserve Component of the United States Navy...
units, two Marine Reserve units, and a small contingent of active and full-time-support reserve personnel.
Economy
Northwest Indiana
Northwest Indiana, also known as the South Shore and The Calumet Region or simply The Region, comprises Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton and Jasper counties in Indiana. This region neighbors Lake Michigan and is part of the Chicago metropolitan area...
is the largest steel producing area in the U.S. 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
Rust Belt
The Rust Belt is a term that gained currency in the 1980s as the informal description of an area straddling the Midwestern and Northeastern United States, in which local economies traditionally garnered an increased manufacturing sector to add jobs and corporate profits...
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. 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 and research facilities of pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly
Eli Lilly and Company
Eli Lilly and Company is a global pharmaceutical company. Eli Lilly's global headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the United States...
in Indianapolis, the state's largest corporation, as well as the world headquarters of Mead Johnson Nutritionals in Evansville. 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.
Indiana is located within the U.S. Corn Belt
Corn Belt
The Corn Belt is a region of the Midwestern United States where corn has, since the 1850s, been the predominant crop, replacing the native tall grasses. By 1950, 99% of the corn was grown from hybrids. Most corn is fed to livestock, especially hogs and poultry. In recent decades soybeans have...
and Grain Belt. The state has a feedlot-style system raising corn to fatten hogs and cattle. Along with corn, soybeans are also a major cash crop. Its proximity to large urban centers, such as Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
and Chicago, assure that dairying, egg production, and specialty horticulture occur.
Other crops include melons, tomatoes, grapes, mint, popping corn, and tobacco in the southern counties. 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.
In 2011 Indiana was ranked first in the Midwest and sixth in the country for best places to do business according to CEO magazine.
State budget
Indiana does not have a legal requirement to balance the state budget either in law or its constitution. Instead, Indiana has a constitutional ban on assuming debt.Indiana has a Rainy Day Fund
Rainy day fund
Rainy day fund, rainy day reserve, or emergency fund are terms used to describe a reserved amount of money to be used in times when regular income is disrupted or decreased in order for typical operations to continue. In the United States, the term is usually used to apply to the funds maintained...
and for healthy reserves proportional to spending.
Indiana is one of the few states in the U.S. which do not allow a line-item veto. Indiana does not use Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles refer to the standard framework of guidelines for financial accounting used in any given jurisdiction; generally known as accounting standards...
.
Indiana has a flat state income tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
rate of 3.4%. Many Indiana counties also collect income tax. The state sales tax
Sales tax
A sales tax is a tax, usually paid by the consumer at the point of purchase, itemized separately from the base price, for certain goods and services. The tax amount is usually calculated by applying a percentage rate to the taxable price of a sale....
rate is 7%. Property tax
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
es 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. However, a "circuit breaker" law enacted on March 19, 2008 limits property tax
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
es to one percent of assessed value for homeowners, two percent for rental properties and farmland and three percent for businesses.
In Fiscal year 2011 Indiana reported one of the largest surpluses among U.S states, with an extra $1.2 billion in its accounts. Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, authorized bonus payments of up to $1,000 for state employees on Friday, July 15, 2011. An employee who “meets expectations” will get $500, those who “exceed expectations” will receive $750 and “outstanding workers” will see an extra $1,000 in their August paychecks
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 StationGibson Generating Station
The Gibson Generating Station is a coal-burning power plant located at the northern end of northern Montgomery Township, Gibson County, Indiana, United States. It is close to the Wabash River, just opposite Mount Carmel, Illinois...
, located across the Wabash River from Mount Carmel, Illinois
Mount Carmel, Illinois
Mount Carmel is a city in and the county seat of Wabash County, Illinois, United States. At the time of the 2000 census, the population was 7,982, while the next largest town in Wabash County is Allendale, population 528. Located at the confluence of the Wabash, Patoka, and White Rivers, Mount...
. Indiana is also home to the coal-fired plant with the highest sulfur dioxide emissions in the United States, the Gallagher
R. Gallagher Generating Station
The R. Gallagher Generating Station is a four-unit coal-burning power plant located along the Ohio River some two miles downstream from New Albany, Indiana in southernmost Floyd County, Indiana. The total aggregate capacity of the plant's four identical units is 560MW.-Sulphur dioxide...
power plant just west of New Albany. The state has an estimated coal reserves of fifty-seven billion tons; state mining operations produces thirty-five million tons of coal annually. 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
Coal gasification
Coal gasification is the process of producing coal gas, a type of syngas–a mixture of carbon monoxide , hydrogen , carbon dioxide and water vapour –from coal...
plants. Another source is hydroelectric power.
Solar power and wind power are being investigated, and geothermal power is being used commercially. New estimates in 2006 raised the wind capacity for Indiana from 30 MW at 50 m turbine height to 40,000 MW at 70 m, which could double at 100 m, the height of newer turbines. As of the end of June 2008, Indiana has installed 130 MW of wind turbines and has under construction another 400 MW.
Sources of energy (2009) See below Navbox for individual facilities.
| Fuel | Capacity | Percent of Total Consumed | Percent of Total Production | Number of Plants/Units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coal | 22,190.5 MW | 63 % | 88.5 % | 28 Plants |
| Natural Gas | 2,100 MW | 29 % | 10.5 % | 15 Facilities *Often used in Peaking Stations Peaking power plant Peaking power plants, also known as peaker plants, and occasionally just "peakers," are power plants that generally run only when there is a high demand, known as peak demand, for electricity.-Peak hours:... |
| Wind (Currently The fastest growing form of energy in Indiana) |
530.5 MW 1,836.5 MW when all current wind farms are complete |
? | ? | 4 Farms appx 1,000–1,100 Towers total |
| Coal Gasification Coal gasification Coal gasification is the process of producing coal gas, a type of syngas–a mixture of carbon monoxide , hydrogen , carbon dioxide and water vapour –from coal... |
600 MW | ? | ? | 1 Facility under Construction |
| Petroleum | 575 MW | 7.5 % | 1.5 % | 10 Units |
| Hydroelectric | 64 MW | 0.0450 % | 0.0100 % | 1 Plant |
| Biomass Biomass Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel.... |
28 MW | 0.0150 % | 0.0020 % | 1 Facility |
| Wood & Waste Waste Waste is unwanted or useless materials. In biology, waste is any of the many unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from living organisms, metabolic waste; such as urea, sweat or feces. Litter is waste which has been disposed of improperly... |
18 MW | 0.0013 % | 0.0015 % | 3 Units |
| Geothermal Geothermal Geothermal is related to energy and may refer to:* The geothermal gradient and associated heat flows from within the Earth- Renewable technology :... and/or Solar |
0 MW | 0.0 % | 0.0 | No Facilities at this time |
| Nuclear Nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity... |
0 MW | 0.0 % | 0.0 | No Facilities at this time |
| Total | 22,797.5 MW * only includes top number of wind |
100% | 100% | 46 Generating Facilities |
Airports
Indianapolis International AirportIndianapolis International Airport
Indianapolis International Airport is a public airport located seven miles southwest of the central business district of Indianapolis, a city in Marion County, Indiana, United States. It is owned and operated by the Indianapolis Airport Authority...
serves the greater Indianapolis area and has finished constructing a new passenger terminal. The new airport opened in November 2008 and offers a new midfield passenger terminal, concourses, air traffic control tower, parking garage, and airfield and apron improvements.
Other major airports include Evansville Regional Airport
Evansville Regional Airport
Evansville Regional Airport is a public airport located three miles north of the central business district of Evansville, a city in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. This airport is publicly owned by Evansville/Vanderburgh Airport Authority.It provides nearly 30 daily flights to and...
, Fort Wayne International Airport
Fort Wayne International Airport
-Top Destinations:-Airfield infrastructure:As of 2006, the airport's main Runway 5/23's usable dimensions are long and wide while the grooved-surface dimensions are long and wide, large enough to accommodate the NASA Space Shuttle orbiter, Boeing 747s, and military air mobility and aerial...
(which houses the 122d Fighter Wing
122d Fighter Wing
The 122d Fighter Wing is an Indiana Air National Guard fighter unit, part of the United States Air Force. It is located at Fort Wayne Air National Guard Station in Fort Wayne, Indiana.-Overview:...
of the Air National Guard
Air National Guard
The Air National Guard , often referred to as the Air Guard, is the air force militia organized by each of the fifty U.S. states, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia of the United States. Established under Title 10 and...
), and South Bend Regional Airport
South Bend Regional Airport
South Bend Regional Airport is a public airport located three miles northwest of the central business district of South Bend, a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States. This airport is publicly owned by St. Joseph County Airport Authority...
. A long-standing proposal to turn 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.
The Terre Haute International Airport
Terre Haute International Airport
Terre Haute International Airport is a public airport located east of the central business district of Terre Haute, a city in Vigo County, Indiana, United States. It is included in the FAA's National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a general aviation...
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
Air National Guard
The Air National Guard , often referred to as the Air Guard, is the air force militia organized by each of the fifty U.S. states, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the territories of Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia of the United States. Established under Title 10 and...
has been stationed at the airport. However, the Base Realignment and Closure
Base Realignment and Closure
Base Realignment and Closure is a process of the United States federal government directed at the administration and operation of the Armed Forces, used by the United States Department of Defense and Congress to close excess military installations and realign the total asset inventory to reduce...
(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
Louisville International Airport
Louisville International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport centrally located in the city of Louisville in Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA. The airport covers 1,200 acres and has three runways. Its IATA airport code SDF is based on the airport's former name, Standiford Field...
across the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
.
The southeastern part of the state is served by the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport , sometimes called the Greater Cincinnati Airport is located in Hebron, unincorporated Boone County, Kentucky, United States and serves the Greater Cincinnati metropolitan area. Despite being located in Boone County, the airport operations are...
also across the Ohio River in Florence, Kentucky
Florence, Kentucky
Florence is a city in Boone County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 29,951 at the 2010 census.-History:The Florence area was originally known as Crossroads, because of the convergence of several roads from Burlington and Union at Ridge Road...
.
Most residents Northwest Indiana
Northwest Indiana
Northwest Indiana, also known as the South Shore and The Calumet Region or simply The Region, comprises Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton and Jasper counties in Indiana. This region neighbors Lake Michigan and is part of the Chicago metropolitan area...
, which is primarily in the Chicago Metropolitan Area, use the two Chicago airports, O'Hare International Airport
O'Hare International Airport
Chicago O'Hare International Airport , also known as O'Hare Airport, O'Hare Field, Chicago Airport, Chicago International Airport, or simply O'Hare, is a major airport located in the northwestern-most corner of Chicago, Illinois, United States, northwest of the Chicago Loop...
and Chicago Midway International Airport.
Highways
The major U.S. Interstate highways in Indiana are I-64, I-164, I-65, I-265, I-465, I-865, I-69, I-469, I-70, I-74, I-80, I-90, I-94 and I-275. The various highways intersecting in and around Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, along with its historical status as a major railroad hub, and the canals that once crossed Indiana, are the source of the state's motto, the Crossroads of America.
There are also many state highways maintained by the Indiana Department of Transportation
Indiana Department of Transportation
The Indiana Department of Transportation is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Indiana charged with maintaining and regulating transportation and transportation related infrastructure such as state owned airports, state highways and state owned canals or railroads.-Districts:INDOT is...
. These are numbered according to the same convention as U.S. Highways. Indiana allows highways of different classifications to have the same number. For example, Interstate 64 and State Road 64 both exist (rather close to each other) in Indiana, but are two distinct roads with no relation to one another.
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 9-1-19-1-1
9-1-1 is the emergency telephone number for the North American Numbering Plan .It is one of eight N11 codes.The use of this number is for emergency circumstances only, and to use it for any other purpose can be a crime.-History:In the earliest days of telephone technology, prior to the...
system. Such systems are easier to implement in the glacially flattened northern and central portions 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., Crawford, Harrison, Perry, Scott, and Washington Counties); there are also counties in the northern portions of the state that have never implemented a grid, or have only partially implemented one. Some counties are also laid out in an almost diamond-like grid system (e.g. Clark, Floyd, Gibson, and Knox Counties). Such a system is also almost useless in those situations as well. Knox County once operated two different grid systems for county roads because the county was laid out using two different survey grids, but has since decided to use road names and combine roads instead.
Notably, the county road grid system of St. Joseph County, whose major city is South Bend, uses perennial (tree) names (i.e. Ash, Hickory, Ironwood, etc.) in alphabetical order for North-South roads and Presidential and other noteworthy names (i.e. Adams, Edison, Lincoln Way, etc.) in alphabetical order for East-West roads. There are exceptions to this rule in downtown South Bend and Mishawaka.
Rail
Indiana has over 4,255 railroad route miles, of which 91 percent are operated by Class I railroads, principally CSX TransportationCSX Transportation
CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
and the Norfolk Southern Railway
Norfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I railroad in the United States, owned by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 21,500 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia and the province of Ontario, Canada...
. Other Class I railroad
Class I railroad
A Class I railroad in the United States and Mexico, or a Class I rail carrier in Canada, is a large freight railroad company, as classified based on operating revenue.Smaller railroads are classified as Class II and Class III...
s in Indiana include the Canadian National Railway
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....
and Soo Line Railroad
Soo Line Railroad
The Soo Line Railroad is the primary United States railroad subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway , controlled through the Soo Line Corporation, and one of seven U.S. Class I railroads. Although it is named for the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste...
, a Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
subsidiary, as well as Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
. The remaining miles are operated by 37 regional, local, and switching & terminal railroads. The South Shore Line
South Shore Line (NICTD)
The South Shore Line is an electrically powered interurban commuter rail line operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District between Millennium Station in downtown Chicago and the South Bend Regional Airport in South Bend, Indiana...
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
Parsons Corporation
Parsons Corporation is an engineering, construction, and technical and management services firm headquartered in Pasadena, California. Founded in 1944 by engineer Ralph M. Parsons, Parsons Corporation is currently one of the largest such companies in the United States, with revenues exceeding...
. Many recreational trails, such as the Monon Trail
Monon Trail
The Monon Trail is a rail trail in Indiana. It uses a portion of the Chicago-Indianapolis main line of the former Monon Railroad, which was abandoned between Indianapolis and Delphi, Indiana in 1987.The trail serves both bicyclists and pedestrians...
in Indianapolis, have been created from abandoned rails routes.
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 (643.7 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 IndianaPort of Indiana
The Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor is an industrial area, founded in 1965 and located on the Lake Michigan shore of Indiana at the intersection of U.S. Highway 12 and Indiana 249. The primary work done in the area is the manufacturing of steel, and the port area is dominated by steel mills...
manages three major ports which include Burns Harbor
Burns Harbor, Indiana
Burns Harbor is a town in Westchester Township, Porter County, Indiana, United States on the shores of Lake Michigan in Northwest Indiana and is part of the Chicago metropolitan area...
, Jeffersonville
Jeffersonville, Indiana
Jeffersonville is a city in Clark County, Indiana, along the Ohio River. Locally, the city is often referred to by the abbreviated name Jeff. It is directly across the Ohio River to the north of Louisville, Kentucky along I-65. The population was 44,953 at the 2010 census...
, and Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon, Indiana
Mount Vernon is a city in southern Indiana along the Ohio River and the county seat of Posey County. It is located in Black Township. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 6,687...
.
Education
Indiana's 1816 constitution was the first in the country to implement a state-funded public school system. It also allotted one township for a public university. However, the plan turned out to be far too idealistic for a pioneer society, as tax money was not accessible for its organization. In the 1840s, Caleb MillsCaleb Mills
Caleb Mills was an American educator and the first faculty member of Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana. He helped to construct the public education system of Indiana. Mills came to Wabash College in 1833, after graduating from Dartmouth College and Andover Seminary, to become the first...
pressed the need for tax-supported schools, and in 1851 his advice was included in the new state constitution. Although the growth of the public school system was held up by legal entanglements, many public elementary schools were in use by 1870. Most children in Indiana attend public schools, but nearly 10% attend private schools and parochial school
Parochial school
A parochial school is a school that provides religious education in addition to conventional education. In a narrower sense, a parochial school is a Christian grammar school or high school which is part of, and run by, a parish.-United Kingdom:...
s. About one-half of all college students in Indiana are enrolled in state-supported four-year schools. The largest institution is Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
, the flagship campus
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...
of which was endorsed as Indiana Seminary in 1820. Indiana State University
Indiana State University
Indiana State University is a public university located in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States.The Princeton Review has named Indiana State as one of the "Best in the Midwest" seven years running, and the College of Education's Graduate Program was recently named as a 'Top 100' by U.S...
was established as the state's Normal School
Normal school
A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...
in 1865; Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
was chartered as a land-grant college
Land-grant university
Land-grant universities are institutions of higher education in the United States designated by each state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890....
in 1869. The three other independent state universities are Vincennes University
Vincennes University
Vincennes University is a public university in Vincennes, Indiana, in the United States. Founded in 1801 as Jefferson Academy, VU is the oldest public institution of higher learning in Indiana. Since 1889, VU has been a two-year university, although baccalaureate degrees in seven select areas are...
(1802), Ball State University
Ball State University
Ball State University is a state-run research university located in Muncie, Indiana. It is also known as Ball State or simply BSU.Located on the northwest side of the city, Ball State's campus spans and includes 106 buildings...
(1918) and University of Southern Indiana
University of Southern Indiana
The University of Southern Indiana is a public university in Vanderburgh County, Indiana. This publicly funded institution has been among the fastest growingcomprehensive state universities in Indiana. Record fall enrollment in 2010 reached 10,702...
(1965). Many of the private colleges and universities in Indiana are affiliated with religious groups. The University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
and the University of Saint Francis
University of Saint Francis (Indiana)
The University of Saint Francis is a liberal arts university located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, the university promotes Catholic and Franciscan values...
are popular Roman Catholic schools. Universities affiliated with Protestant denominations include Anderson University
Anderson University
Anderson University may refer to:*Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana.*Anderson University in Anderson, South Carolina....
, Butler University
Butler University
Butler University is a private university located in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university offers 60 degree programs to 4,400 students through six colleges: business, communication, education, liberal Arts and sciences, pharmacy and health...
, Taylor University
Taylor University
Taylor University is a private, interdenominational, evangelical Christian college located in Upland, Indiana. Founded in 1846, it is one of the oldest evangelical Christian colleges in America....
, DePauw University
DePauw University
DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, USA, is a private, national liberal arts college with an enrollment of approximately 2,400 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the Great Lakes Colleges Association...
, Earlham College
Earlham College
Earlham College is a liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. It was founded in 1847 by Quakers and has approximately 1,200 students.The president is John David Dawson...
, Valparaiso University
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso University, known colloquially as Valpo, is a regionally accredited private university located in the city of Valparaiso in the U.S. state of Indiana. Founded in 1859, it consists of five undergraduate colleges, a graduate school, a nursing school and a law school...
, and University of Evansville
University of Evansville
The University of Evansville is a small, private university with approximately 3,050 students located in Evansville, Indiana. Founded in 1854 as Moores Hill College, it is located near the interchange of the Lloyd Expressway and U.S. Route 41. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church...
.
Professional sports
Indiana has an extensive history with auto racingAuto racing
Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...
. Indianapolis hosts the Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...
mile race over Memorial Day
Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War...
weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana in the United States, is the home of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and the Brickyard 400....
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 making it the largest single day sporting event in the world. The track also hosts the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard
Allstate 400 at the Brickyard
The Brickyard 400 is an annual 400-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup points race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The event, when first held in 1994, marked the first race other than the Indianapolis 500 to be held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1916...
(NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
) and the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix (MotoGP). From 2000 to 2007, it hosted the United States Grand Prix
United States Grand Prix
The United States Grand Prix is a motor race which has been run on and off since 1908, when it was known as the American Grand Prize. The race later became part of the Formula One World Championship. Over 41 editions, the race has been held at nine locations, most recently in 2007 at the...
(Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
). Indiana is also host to two major unlimited hydroplane racing
Hydroplane racing
Hydroplane racing is a sport involving racing hydroplanes on lakes and rivers. It is a popular spectator sport in several countries.-International Professional Outboard Hydroplane Racing:...
power boat race circuits in the major H1 Unlimited league: Thunder on the Ohio
Thunder on the Ohio
Thunder on the Ohio was a hydroplane boat race in the H1 Unlimited season.Thunder was held each year on the Ohio River in downtown Evansville, Indiana, USA. Evansville had hosted Thunder on the Ohio consecutively since 1979...
(Evansville, Indiana
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
) and the Madison Regatta
Madison Regatta
The Lucas Oil Indiana Governor's Cup or Madison Regatta, is a hydroplane boat race and is the first official race of the Air National Guard H1 Unlimited Series season. Its title sponsor for 2010 is Lucas Oil. The race is typically held around Fourth of July weekend on the Ohio River in Madison,...
(Madison, Indiana
Madison, Indiana
As of the census of 2000, there were 12,004 people, 5,092 households, and 3,085 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,402.9 people per square mile . There were 5,597 housing units at an average density of 654.1 per square mile...
).
Indiana has a rich basketball heritage that reaches back to the formative years of the sport itself. Although James Naismith
James Naismith
The first game of "Basket Ball" was played in December 1891. In a handwritten report, Naismith described the circumstances of the inaugural match; in contrast to modern basketball, the players played nine versus nine, handled a soccer ball, not a basketball, and instead of shooting at two hoops,...
developed basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
, 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
Hoosiers
Hoosiers is a 1986 sports film about a small-town Indiana high school basketball team that wins the state championship. It is loosely based on the Milan High School team that won the 1954 state championship....
is inspired by the story of the 1954 Indiana state champions Milan High School.
Indianapolis is home to the Indianapolis Colts
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....
. The Colts are members of the South Division
AFC South
The AFC South is a division of the National Football League's American Football Conference. It was created before the 2002 season when the league realigned divisions after expanding to 32 teams...
of the American Football Conference
American Football Conference
The American Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the National Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL....
. The Colts have roots back to 1913 as the Dayton Triangles
Dayton Triangles
The Dayton Triangles were an original franchise of the American Professional Football Association in 1920. The Triangles were based in Dayton, Ohio, and took their nickname from their home field, Triangle Park, which was located at the confluence of the Great Miami and Stillwater Rivers in north...
. They became an official team after moving to Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, MD
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, in 1953. In 1984, the Colts relocated to Indianapolis, leading to an eventual rivalry with the Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional football franchise based in Baltimore, Maryland.The Baltimore Ravens are officially a quasi-expansion franchise, having originated in 1995 with the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced his...
. After calling the RCA Dome
RCA Dome
RCA Dome was a domed stadium, located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the home of the Indianapolis Colts NFL franchise for 24 seasons ....
home for 25 years, the Colts currently play their home games at Lucas Oil Stadium
Lucas Oil Stadium
Lucas Oil Stadium is a multi-purpose sports stadium in Downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The stadium celebrated its grand opening on August 24, 2008, and its ribbon-cutting ceremony August 16, 2008. It replaced the RCA Dome as the home field of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts. The stadium was built to...
in Indianapolis. While in Baltimore, the Colts won the 1970 Super Bowl
Super Bowl V
Super Bowl V was an American football game played on January 17, 1971, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, to decide the National Football League champion following the 1970 regular season...
. In Indianapolis, the Colts won Super Bowl XLI
Super Bowl XLI
Super Bowl XLI was an American football game that featured the American Football Conference champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference champion Chicago Bears to decide the National Football League champion for the 2006 season...
, bringing the franchise total to two. In recent years the Colts have regularly competed in the NFL playoffs. The major players for the Colts include Peyton Manning
Peyton Manning
Peyton Williams Manning is an American football quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League . Manning holds the record for most NFL MVP awards with four. He was drafted by the Colts as the first overall pick in 1998 after a standout college football career with the...
, Reggie Wayne
Reggie Wayne
Reginald "Reggie" Wayne is a professional American football wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League. Wayne was selected in the 1st round of the 2001 NFL Draft by the Colts...
, Adam Vinatieri
Adam Vinatieri
Adam Matthew Vinatieri is an American football placekicker currently playing for the Indianapolis Colts. He has played in six Super Bowls, four with the New England Patriots and two with the Colts, winning four. Vinatieri won a Super Bowl in 2006 with Indianapolis and won Super Bowls in 2001,...
, Dwight Freeney
Dwight Freeney
Dwight Jason Freeney is an American football defensive end who currently plays for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League. He was drafted in the 1st round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at Syracuse University.-Early years:Freeney attended Bloomfield High School...
, Robert Mathis
Robert Mathis
Robert Nathan Mathis is an American football defensive end who currently plays for the NFL's Indianapolis Colts.-Early years:Mathis attended McNair High School in Atlanta, Georgia....
, Jeff Saturday
Jeff Saturday
Jeffrey Bryant Saturday is an American football center for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League. He played college football at North Carolina. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the National Football League Players' Association.-Early years:Saturday attended...
, and Joseph Addai
Joseph Addai
Joseph Addai, Jr. is an American football running back for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League. He was selected in the first round of the 2006 NFL Draft out of Louisiana State University.-Early years:Addai's family hails from Ghana in West Africa...
. Former players include Marvin Harrison
Marvin Harrison
Marvin Daniel Harrison is a former American football wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts. He was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the first round of the 1996 NFL Draft. He played college football at Syracuse...
and Edgerrin James
Edgerrin James
Edgerrin Tyree James is a former American football running back. He was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts fourth overall in the 1999 NFL Draft. He played college football at the University of Miami....
.
| Facility | Seating Capacity | City |
|---|---|---|
| Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana in the United States, is the home of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and the Brickyard 400.... |
500,000 | Speedway, Indiana Speedway, Indiana Speedway is a town in Wayne Township, Marion County, Indiana, United States. The population was 12,881 at the 2000 census. Speedway is the home of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, from which the town derives its name, and is a complete enclave of Indianapolis.... |
| Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame Stadium is the home football stadium for the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team. The stadium is located on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States, just north of the city of South Bend.... |
80,795 | South Bend, Indiana South Bend, Indiana The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663... |
| Lucas Oil Stadium Lucas Oil Stadium Lucas Oil Stadium is a multi-purpose sports stadium in Downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The stadium celebrated its grand opening on August 24, 2008, and its ribbon-cutting ceremony August 16, 2008. It replaced the RCA Dome as the home field of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts. The stadium was built to... |
63,000 | Indianapolis Indianapolis Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S... , Indiana |
| Ross-Ade Stadium Ross-Ade Stadium Ross–Ade Stadium is a stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States. It is the home of the Purdue University Boilermakers football team.-History:... |
62,500 | West Lafayette, Indiana West Lafayette, Indiana As of the census of 2010, there were 29,596 people, 12,591 households, and 3,588 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,381.1 people per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 74.3% White, 17.3% Asian, 2.7% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.03% Pacific... |
| Memorial Stadium | 52,929 | Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census.... |
| Scheumann Stadium Scheumann Stadium Scheumann Stadium , formerly known as Ball State Stadium, is in Muncie, Indiana. It is primarily used for football, and is the home field of the Ball State University Cardinals... |
25,400 | Muncie, Indiana Muncie, Indiana Muncie is a city in Center Township, Delaware County in east central Indiana, best known as the home of Ball State University and the birthplace of the Ball Corporation. It is the principal city of the Muncie, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 118,769... |
| Conseco Fieldhouse Conseco Fieldhouse Conseco Fieldhouse is a multi-purpose arena located in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Opened in November 1999 to replace Market Square Arena, it is home to the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association and the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association... |
18,165 | Indianapolis Indianapolis Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S... , Indiana |
| Assembly Hall Assembly Hall (Bloomington) Assembly Hall is a 17,456-seat arena on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the home of the Indiana Hoosiers basketball teams. It opened in 1971 , replacing the current Gladstein Fieldhouse. The court is named after Branch McCracken, the men's basketball coach who led... |
17,456 | Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census.... |
| Mackey Arena Mackey Arena Mackey Arena is located in West Lafayette, Indiana. Part of the Purdue University campus, it is home to the university's basketball teams, and occasionally hosts home games for the volleyball and wrestling teams... |
14,123 | West Lafayette, Indiana West Lafayette, Indiana As of the census of 2010, there were 29,596 people, 12,591 households, and 3,588 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,381.1 people per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 74.3% White, 17.3% Asian, 2.7% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.03% Pacific... |
| Allen County War Memorial Coliseum Allen County War Memorial Coliseum The Allen County War Memorial Coliseum is a 13,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Fort Wayne, Indiana, initially built in 1952 for nearly $3 million in Fort Wayne's Johnny Appleseed Park. The Allen County War Memorial Coliseum was originally designed to seat 8,000 for hockey or 10,240 for basketball... |
13,000 | Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana... |
| Memorial Stadium Memorial Stadium (Terre Haute) Memorial Stadium is the current home of Indiana State University football in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA. Constructed in 1923-24 by the City of Terre Haute to seat approximately 16,000 people, the facility's initial primary use was as the home of the Terre Haute Baseball Club, aka the Terre Haute... |
12,764 | Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute is a city and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and... |
| Victory Field Victory Field Victory Field is the name of the current minor league baseball park that is the home of the Indianapolis Indians of the International League. It is located in Indianapolis, Indiana.... |
12,496 | Indianapolis Indianapolis Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S... , Indiana |
| John E. Worthen Arena John E. Worthen Arena John E. Worthen Arena is a basketball arena in Muncie, Indiana. The arena opened in the year 1992 and it is home to the Ball State University Cardinals men's and women's basketball and volleyball teams... |
11,500 | Muncie, Indiana Muncie, Indiana Muncie is a city in Center Township, Delaware County in east central Indiana, best known as the home of Ball State University and the birthplace of the Ball Corporation. It is the principal city of the Muncie, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 118,769... |
| Hulman Center Hulman Center Hulman Center is a 10,200-seat multi-purpose arena in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA. Initially named the Hulman Civic-University Center, the facility opened on December 14, 1973. Funded by donations and bond issues after an initial $2.5 million challenge gift from philanthropist Tony Hulman and the... |
10,200 | Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute is a city and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and... |
| Ford Center | 10,000 | Evansville, Indiana Evansville, Indiana Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the... |
| Hinkle Fieldhouse Hinkle Fieldhouse Hinkle Fieldhouse is a basketball arena located on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. When it was built in 1928, it was the largest basketball arena in the United States, and it retained that distinction until 1950. It is the sixth-oldest college basketball arena still in... |
10,000 | Indianapolis Indianapolis Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S... , Indiana |
| Edmund P. Joyce Center Edmund P. Joyce Center The Joyce Center is a 9,800-seat multi-purpose arena in Notre Dame, Indiana just north of South Bend, Indiana. The arena opened in 1968. It is home to the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball and volleyball teams... |
9,800 | South Bend, Indiana South Bend, Indiana The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663... |
| Anderson Wigwam Anderson High School Wigwam Anderson High School Wigwam is an indoor arena in Anderson, Indiana. The current version hosts home games for the Anderson High School Indians and was home to the Indiana Alley Cats of the Continental Basketball Association, but is now home of the Anderson Champions of the American Basketball... |
8,996 | Anderson, Indiana Anderson, Indiana Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Anderson, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses Madison county. Anderson is the headquarters of the Church of God and home of Anderson University, which is... |
| Parkview Field Parkview Field Parkview Field is a minor league baseball stadium located in the central business district of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.-History:Parkview Field was built as the new home of the Midwest League's Fort Wayne TinCaps, Single-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres, replacing Memorial Stadium... |
8,100 | Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana... |
| U.S. Steel Yard U.S. Steel Yard U.S. Steel Yard is an open-air baseball stadium located in Gary, Indiana next to I-90. It is home to the Gary SouthShore RailCats, a professional baseball team and member of the American Association. It seats 6,139 people. It also hosts many Little League Baseball games as well as high school... |
6,000 | Gary, Indiana Gary, Indiana Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city is in the southeastern portion of the Chicago metropolitan area and is 25 miles from downtown Chicago. The population is 80,294 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh-largest city in the state. It borders Lake Michigan and is known... |
| Indiana State College Arena Indiana State College Arena Indiana State College Arena is a 5,500 seat multi-purpose arena in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was home to the Indiana State University Sycamores basketball team until the Hulman Center opened in 1973.... |
5,500 | Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute is a city and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and... |
| Bosse Field Bosse Field Bosse Field, is a baseball stadium located in Evansville, Indiana. Built in 1915, it is the third oldest ballpark used for professional baseball on a regular basis in the country, surpassed only by Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago.It is the current home of the Frontier League... |
5,181 | Evansville, Indiana Evansville, Indiana Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the... |
| Compton Family Center | 5,000 | South Bend, Indiana South Bend, Indiana The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663... |
| Coveleski Stadium | 5,000 | South Bend, Indiana South Bend, Indiana The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663... |
| Club | Sport | League |
|---|---|---|
| Elkhart Express Elkhart Express The Elkhart Express were an International Basketball League team based in Elkhart, Indiana. The team won the 2006 and 2007 IBL championships. The Express officially released that they were folding on January 5, 2009... |
Basketball | International Basketball League International Basketball League The International Basketball League was a short lived professional basketball league in the United States. The IBL was headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The league started in 1999 and ended in 2001.-History:... |
| Evansville Crush Evansville Crush The Evansville Crush are an American indoor soccer team, founded in 2010. The indoor team is a member of the Premier Arena Soccer League , the development league for the Professional Arena Soccer League , and plays in the Midwest Conference against teams from Cincinnati, Ohio , Granite City,... |
Indoor Soccer Indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer, or six-a-side football in the United Kingdom, is a game derived from association football adapted for play in an indoor arena such as a turf-covered hockey arena or skating rink. The most important difference in play is that the indoor field is surrounded by a wall... |
Premier Arena Soccer League Premier Arena Soccer League The Premier Arena Soccer League is an Indoor Soccer league with amateur and semi-professional teams. PASL-Premier currently has 38 teams in 6 divisions across the USA and Mexico. PASL-Premier is the official developmental league of the Professional Arena Soccer League .Teams play in regional... |
| Evansville Enforcers | Football American football American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by... |
Great Midwest Football League |
| Evansville IceMen Evansville IceMen The Evansville IceMen were a professional hockey team based in Evansville, Indiana. The team folded in 2010, as IceMen owner Ron Geary purchased the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the International Hockey League and moved the team to Evansville, taking on the name "Evansville IceMen".The AAHL IceMen... |
Ice hockey Ice hockey Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take... |
Central Hockey League Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League is a mid-level professional hockey league, owned by Global Entertainment Corporation. Its current champions are the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, which defeated the Colorado Eagles four games to three in the 2011 playoffs.... |
| Evansville Otters Evansville Otters The Evansville Otters are a professional baseball team based in Evansville, Indiana, in the United States. The Otters are a member of the West Division of the Frontier League, an independent baseball league which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball... |
Baseball | Frontier League Frontier League The Frontier League, based in Sauget, Illinois, is a professional, independent baseball organization located in the Midwestern United States, Western Pennsylvania, and Southern Ontario. It operates mostly in cities not served by Major or Minor League Baseball teams and is not affiliated with either... |
| FC Indiana | Soccer | Women's Premier Soccer League Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League is a national women's soccer league in the United States and Puerto Rico, and is on the 2nd level of women's soccer in the United States soccer pyramid, alongside the W-League and below Women's Professional Soccer.... |
| Fort Wayne Fever Fort Wayne Fever Fort Wayne Fever was an American soccer team based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States. Founded in 2003, the team played in the USL Premier Development League , the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2009, after which the franchise folded and the team left the league.The team... |
Soccer | USL Premier Development League USL Premier Development League The USL Premier Development League is the amateur league of the United Soccer Leagues in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda, forming part of the American Soccer Pyramid... |
| Fort Wayne Flash Fort Wayne Flash The Fort Wayne Flash is a full-contact women's outdoor football team of the Women's Football Alliance based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The team started its exhibition season in 2006 and officially became part of the National Women's Football Association and began playing league games in 2007. Home... |
Football American football American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by... |
Women's Football Alliance Women's Football Alliance The Women's Football Alliance is a full-contact Women's American football league which began play in the spring of 2009. They have now completed three full seasons and grew to over 60 teams slated for the 2011 season. The women play 11 person tackle football games with rules that basically mirror... |
| Indianapolis Enforcers Indianapolis Enforcers The Indianapolis Enforcers are an indoor football team affiliated with the Continental Indoor Football League. Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, the Enforcers will play all their games as a travel team in 2011.... |
Indoor Football | Continental Indoor Football League |
| Fort Wayne Komets Fort Wayne Komets The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey franchise currently a member of the Central Hockey League in the Northern Conference. The team was previously a member of the International Hockey League before it merged into the CHL in 2010... |
Ice hockey Ice hockey Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take... |
Central Hockey League Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League is a mid-level professional hockey league, owned by Global Entertainment Corporation. Its current champions are the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs, which defeated the Colorado Eagles four games to three in the 2011 playoffs.... |
| Fort Wayne Mad Ants Fort Wayne Mad Ants The Fort Wayne Mad Ants are a team of the NBA Development League, located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Allen County War Memorial Coliseum is the home venue for the team. The team is the first minor league basketball franchise to play in Fort Wayne since the Fort Wayne Fury... |
Basketball | NBA Development League NBA Development League The NBA Development League, or NBA D-League, is the National Basketball Association's official minor league basketball organization. Known until summer 2005 as the National Basketball Development League , the NBA D-League started with eight teams in the fall of 2001... |
| Fort Wayne Pistons (now Detroit Pistons Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are a franchise of the National Basketball Association based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills. It was originally founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Fort Wayne Pistons as a member of the National Basketball League in 1941, where... ) |
Basketball | National Basketball Association National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada... |
| Fort Wayne TinCaps | Baseball | Midwest League Midwest League The Midwest League is a Class-A minor league baseball league which operates in the Midwestern United States.-History:Six teams – the Belleville Stags, the Centralia Cubs, the Marion Indians, the Mattoon Indians or East Frankfort White Sox, the Mount Vernon Braves, and the West Frankfort... |
| Gary SouthShore RailCats Gary SouthShore RailCats The Gary SouthShore RailCats are a professional baseball team based in Gary, Indiana, in the United States. The RailCats are a member of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. The RailCats have played their home games at... |
Baseball | American Association |
| Gary Steelheads Gary Steelheads The Gary Steelheads were a professional basketball team that played in the International Basketball League. In the past they played in the International Basketball League, Continental Basketball Association, and the United States Basketball League. They were based in Gary, Indiana and played their... |
Basketball | International Basketball League International Basketball League The International Basketball League was a short lived professional basketball league in the United States. The IBL was headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The league started in 1999 and ended in 2001.-History:... |
| Chi-Town Shooters Chi-Town Shooters The Chi-Town Shooters are a professional ice hockey team that play in the All American Hockey League. The team plays its home games at the Midwest Training & Ice Center in Dyer, Indiana... |
Ice hockey | All American Hockey League |
| Indiana Fever Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever is a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded before the 2000 season began... |
Basketball | Women's National Basketball Association Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association... |
| Indiana Ice Indiana Ice The Indiana Ice is a Tier I ice hockey team formed in 2004 when it was purchased from the former Danville, Illinois, USA, team, the Danville Wings. It plays the majority of its home games at the Pepsi Coliseum, located on the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana. Some of its home... |
Ice hockey | United States Hockey League United States Hockey League The United States Hockey League is the top junior ice hockey league in the United States. The USHL has 16 member teams located in the Midwestern United States, consisting of players who are 20 years of age and younger... |
| Indiana Pacers Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association... |
Basketball | National Basketball Association National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada... |
| Indiana Invaders Indiana Invaders Indiana Invaders is an American soccer team based in South Bend, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1998, the team plays in the USL Premier Development League , the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Great Lakes Division of the Central Conference.The team plays its home games at the... |
Soccer | USL Premier Development League USL Premier Development League The USL Premier Development League is the amateur league of the United Soccer Leagues in the United States, Canada, and Bermuda, forming part of the American Soccer Pyramid... |
| Indiana Speed Indiana Speed The Indiana Speed is a football team in the Women's Spring Football League. They play on the near north side of Indianapolis, Indiana at Park Tudor School's football field.... |
Football | Women's Professional Football League Women's Professional Football League The Women's Professional Football League is the original and longest operating women's professional American football league in the United States. Now with teams across the United States, the WPFL had its first game in 1999 with just two original teams: the Lake Michigan Minx and the Minnesota... |
| Indianapolis Colts Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League .... |
Football American football American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by... |
National Football League National Football League The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing... |
| Indianapolis Indians Indianapolis Indians The Indianapolis Indians are a minor league baseball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The team, which plays in the International League, is the Triple-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates major-league club. The Indians play at Victory Field, located in downtown Indianapolis... |
Baseball | International League International League The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States... |
| South Bend Blue Sox South Bend Blue Sox The South Bend Blue Sox were a women's professional baseball team who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League... |
Baseball | All-American Girls Professional Baseball League All-American Girls Professional Baseball League The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a women's professional baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. During the league's history, over 600 women played ball.-History:... |
| South Bend Silver Hawks South Bend Silver Hawks The South Bend Silver Hawks are a U.S. Class A minor league baseball team, affiliated with the Arizona Diamondbacks, that plays in the Midwest League.... |
Baseball | Midwest League Midwest League The Midwest League is a Class-A minor league baseball league which operates in the Midwestern United States.-History:Six teams – the Belleville Stags, the Centralia Cubs, the Marion Indians, the Mattoon Indians or East Frankfort White Sox, the Mount Vernon Braves, and the West Frankfort... |
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 DameUniversity of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
has been awarded 11 football championships. Schools fielding NCAA Division I athletic programs include:
|
Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the athletic teams for the Bloomington campus of Indiana University . Athletic teams sponsored by IU Bloomington include cross country, track, baseball, golf, tennis, rowing, volleyball, soccer, football and basketball... Indiana State Sycamores The Indiana State University Sycamores are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Indiana State University. They are members of the Missouri Valley Conference, joining in the 1977-78 academic year; past conference memberships include the Indiana College Athletic League , the Indiana Intercollegiate... IPFW Mastodons The IPFW Mastodons are the athletic teams of Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne. The Mastodons compete as an National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I school in the The Summit League for most sports and in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association for men's... IUPUI Jaguars The IUPUI Jaguars are the 14 intercollegiate teams that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. IUPUI competes in The Summit League in all sports.-History:... |
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Notre Dame's nickname is inherited from Irish immigrant soldiers who fought in the Civil War with the Union's Irish Brigade, , recollected among other places in the poetry of Joyce Kilmer who served with one of the Irish Brigade regiments during World War I... Purdue Boilermakers Boilermakers is the official nickname for the intercollegiate athletic teams of Purdue University. As is common with athletic nicknames, it is also used as colloquial designation of Purdue's students and alumni at large.... Valparaiso Crusaders The Valparaiso University Crusaders compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I .Valparaiso competes in the Horizon League in all sports except for football, which is not sponsored by the conference. The football team is a member of the Pioneer Football League. On May 27,... |
See also
- HoosierHoosierHoosier is the official demonym for a resident of the U.S. state of Indiana. Although residents of most U.S. states typically adopt a derivative of the state name, e.g., "Indianan" or "Indianian", natives of Indiana rarely use these. Indiana adopted the nickname "Hoosier State" more than 150...
- IndianapolisIndianapolisIndianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
- Lake MichiganLake MichiganLake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
- List of National Register of Historic Places in Indiana
- List of people from Indiana
- Ohio RiverOhio RiverThe Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
- US state
External links
DirectoryGovernment
- Indiana's Official Website
- Indiana General Assembly
- Indiana Judicial System
- Indiana Chamber of Commerce
- Indiana Constitution
- Indiana Family and Social Services Administration
- Indiana Department of Transportation
Culture and history
- Indiana State Emblems
- Indiana Historical Society
- Road to Indiana Statehood
- Indiana Arts Council
- Indiana Historical Bureau
Tourism and recreation
- Indiana's Official Travel Planning Source
- Indiana Travel and Tourism Information
- Indiana Department of Tourism
- Indiana Recreation Guide
- Indiana State Parks
Geography
- USGS Scientific Resources of Indiana
- Indiana State Facts from USDA
- Historic Indiana Atlases
- Historic Indiana Maps
- Historic Guides to the Communities of Indiana
- Indiana State Climate Office
- Indiana Geography and Geology Facts
International community and business resources