| I | INTRODUCTION |
Indiana, state in the north central United States, in
the Midwest. Indiana is one of the leading industrial and agricultural states in
the Union. Manufacturing is Indiana’s single most important economic activity,
but agriculture remains a principal activity throughout much of the state. The
state motto, the Crossroads of America, reflects the importance of Indiana in
the commercial activities of the country, for numerous transportation routes
pass through the state. Indianapolis, the state’s capital and largest city, is
itself a crossroads, situated at the center of the state with most
transportation routes radiating from it.
Indiana entered the Union on December 11,
1816, as the 19th state. Indiana was originally a heavily forested wilderness
area. With the beginning of large-scale settlement early in the 19th century,
most of the forests were soon cleared for farmland, and Indiana acquired some of
the characteristics of other sections of the Midwest. The flat or gently rolling
central part of the state developed as an area of prosperous farms specializing
in corn and grain-fed livestock. All but the southern and southeastern part of
the state is part of the so-called Corn Belt that stretches from Ohio to eastern
Nebraska. Southern Indiana is largely an area of hills, tracts of forest land,
small farms, and small rural communities. The northern lowlands, from the
Calumet region in the northwest to Fort Wayne in the east, includes—in addition
to farmland—one of the greatest concentrations of industry in the United States.
Other industrial and commercial centers are found in central and southern
Indiana.
The state’s nickname is the Hoosier State, and
the people of Indiana are called Hoosiers. These two names are among the most
widely known of all state nicknames, but their origin remains disputed. Among
the many explanations is that of Jacob Piatt Dunn. He traced the word back to
“hoozer,” a dialect word from the Cumberland district of northwestern England
that meant any unusually large feature, such as a hill. It eventually came to
mean a hill dweller, and as such, was introduced in hilly southern Indiana, the
earliest settled part of the state. Another explanation holds that the term
comes from the many Indiana residents hired by contractor Sam Hoosier, who
became known as Hoosiers. Still others believe the word is a corruption of
pioneer question “Who’s here?” The word Indiana simply means “land of the
Indians,” referring to the region’s many Native American inhabitants. The term
was coined in the 1760s and first applied to a private tract of land in
Pennsylvania. In 1800 it was applied to the Indiana Territory when the United
States Congress created it out of the Northwest Territory.
| II | PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY |
Indiana ranks 38th among the states in size,
with a total area of 94,322 sq km (36,418 sq mi), including 818 sq km (316 sq
mi) of inland water and 609 sq km (235 sq mi) of Lake Michigan over which it has
jurisdiction. Indiana is roughly rectangular in shape, and the state has a
maximum dimension north to south of 459 km (285 mi) and a maximum east to west
dimension of 285 km (177 mi). The state is bordered on the north by Lake
Michigan and the state of Michigan, on the east by Ohio, and on the west by
Illinois. The Ohio River separates Indiana from Kentucky on the southern
border.
| A | Natural Regions |
Indiana includes parts of two natural
regions, or physiographic provinces, of the United States, the Central Lowland
and the Interior Low Plateau. Both regions form part of a larger natural region,
the Interior Plains. Indiana lies mainly between 150 and 300 m (500 and 1,000
ft) above sea level and has an average elevation of about 210 m (700 ft). The
highest point, in Wayne County near the Ohio state line, is only 383 m (1,257
ft) above sea level.
The Central Lowland, in Indiana, is a
generally flat area that covers the northern and central portions of the state.
Much of its appearance is a result of glacial action that occurred during the
Ice Age, which ended about 10,000 years ago. During that period several great
ice sheets advanced from the north and retreated across Indiana. Early ice
sheets covered all of Indiana except a hilly irregular wedge roughly south of a
line connecting the cities of Evansville, Bloomington, and New Albany. Later ice
sheets covered only the northern and central sections of the Central Lowland.
The ice sheets left a deep layer of glacial drift that has weathered into soils
made up of sand and clays intermingled with gravel. This type of glacial drift
is termed till, or ground moraines.
Occasional areas of boulders and rough
stones were deposited in terminal or lateral moraines, now rising in low, deeply
eroded hills marking the edges of the glacier’s path. As the glaciers melted,
they left deposits of sand and gravel washed out by meltwater streams. These
deposits form a natural conduit for groundwater and are the source of well water
in large parts of the state.
The most recently glaciated areas, limited
to northern Indiana, are covered with large areas of infertile sandy deposits
and numerous swamps and marshes. When drained, the swamps and marshes provide
fertile muck soils. Low sandy ridges and hills of glacial drift are common in
this section of the Central Lowland. Central Indiana, which has a generally less
varied relief, includes the flattest areas in the state and also some of the
most fertile soils. The very flat and fertile lands of west-central Indiana form
an extension of the Grand Prairie area in Illinois. Only in some east-central
areas do concentric bands of low sandy ridges add greater diversity of relief.
Glaciated areas in southern Indiana, covered very early in the Ice Age, have
been exposed longer to the forces of erosion than have the areas farther north.
As a result, the landscape in even the glaciated areas of southern Indiana is
characterized by numerous rolling hills and valleys.
The Interior Low Plateau, in southern
Indiana, is a hilly area that was never glaciated by the ice sheets. Long
subjected to erosion, it is an area of sharp ridges, deep gorges and scenic
waterfalls. There are also numerous caves and sinkholes, which have been formed
in places where water action has dissolved the underlying limestone of the
plateau. Wyandotte Cave and Marengo Cave, about 50 km (about 30 m) west of New
Albany, are two of the largest caves. Limestone bedrock exposed in the
unglaciated areas provides the state with a major building stone, Indiana
limestone. One of the world’s leading exposures of Devonian Period limestone
fossils is in the Falls of the Ohio State Park in New Albany.
| B | Rivers and Lakes |
Most of Indiana’s rivers flow southward
and westward and form part of the Mississippi River system. In addition, there
are several small rivers that flow northward to Lake Michigan or eastward,
through Ohio, to Lake Erie. The watershed, or dividing line, in Northern Indiana
between the Mississippi River system and the Great Lakes drainage basin is
generally low, swampy, and poorly defined.
The Ohio River, a major tributary of the
Mississippi River, forms a navigable route along the entire length of the
Indiana-Kentucky state line. The Ohio’s major tributary in Indiana is the Wabash
River. The Wabash, 824 km (512 mi) in length, flows generally westward across
north central Indiana and then turns southward to form a lengthy section of the
Indiana-Illinois state line. In Indiana the principal tributaries of the Wabash
are the Tippecanoe River in the north, and the East Fork and the West Fork of
the White River, which drain large areas of the southern and south central
portions of Indiana. Indianapolis, the capital, is located on the West Fork of
the White River.
The major river in northwestern Indiana is
the Kankakee River. The Kankakee rises near South Bend and flows westward across
Indiana into Illinois, where it joins the Des Plaines River to form the Illinois
River, a tributary of the Mississippi. In northeastern Indiana the Maumee River,
which drains to Lake Erie is formed at Fort Wayne by the junction of the Saint
Marys and Saint Joseph rivers. There is another Saint Joseph River, which loops
through South Bend in northern Indiana to enter Lake Michigan in Michigan.
There are about 1,000 small natural lakes
in Indiana, chiefly in the northern part of the state. The largest is Lake
Wawasee, which covers almost 13 sq km (5 sq mi). In the central part of the
state there are several lakes that were created behind dams on a number of
smaller streams. They include Monroe Lake, near Bloomington; Geist and Eagle
Creek reservoirs, northeast and northwest of Indianapolis; and Mississinewa and
Huntington reservoirs, north of Marion.
| C | Climate |
Most of Indiana has a humid continental
climate, with cool winters and long, warm summers. The extreme southern part of
the state is within the humid subtropical climate zone and has somewhat warmer
temperatures and receives more precipitation.
| C1 | Temperature |
Throughout the year, temperatures do not
vary greatly from place to place but are generally a few degrees higher in
southern Indiana than in northern Indiana. Average July temperatures in all of
the state are in the lower to mid 20°s C (mid 70°s F) and range from 23° C (74°
F) in the north to more than 26° C (78° F) in the south. July temperatures in
Indianapolis average a high of 30° C (86° F) and a low of 18° C (65° F). In
summer, daytime highs in Indiana often rise to the upper 30°s C (lower 100°s F),
and on occasion they may reach into the lower 40°s C (lower 110°s F).
Average January temperatures range from
-3° C (26° F) in the north to more than 1° C (34° F) in the Ohio River valley.
January temperatures in Indianapolis average a high of 1° C (34° F) and a low of
-8° C (17° F). In winter, freezing weather occurs throughout the state, and lows
in the lower -30°s C (lower -20°s F) are sometimes recorded in northern
Indiana.
| C2 | Precipitation |
Precipitation (rainfall and snowfall)
ranges from less than 860 mm (34 in) a year in the northwest to more than 1,170
mm (46 in) in the hills of southern Indiana, near the Ohio River valley.
Precipitation is distributed throughout the year although in the north the
heaviest rainfall comes between April and July. Hailstorms are common in the
north and occur occasionally in the south during summer and cause damage to
crops. Tornadoes associated with frontal storms can occur, and occasionally do
considerable damage. In winter heavy snowfalls are common in the north and occur
occasionally in the south.
| C3 | Growing Season |
The growing season, or period between
the last killing frost in spring and the first killing frost in the fall,
increases from less than 150 days in the northeast and along the Kankakee River
to more than 190 days in the southwest. The last killing frost in the spring
usually occurs in mid-April in the south and as much as three weeks later in
parts of the Kankakee River valley. The first killing frost in the fall occurs
first in northern Indiana, where it can usually be expected in the second two
weeks of October. However, the waters of Lake Michigan retain their warmth into
the fall and sometimes delay killing frosts along the lakeshore for several
weeks.
| D | Soils |
The most productive soils in Indiana are
in the most recently glaciated prairie areas of the west central parts of the
state. Deep and well-drained, these prairie soils, like those of the Grand
Prairie in adjoining Illinois, are exceedingly fertile and intensively farmed.
North of the prairie soils are found muck soils, which occur in swamp areas and
are fertile when drained. Gray-brown forest soils cover the remainder of
northern and central Indiana and also an extensive area of the hill lands in the
southern part of the state. Where the land is flat or gently rolling, as in most
of central Indiana, the gray-brown forest soils, somewhat acidic, are only
slightly less productive than the prairie soils. However, where the soils have
been longer subject to leaching of minerals, as in the lighter colored forest or
prairie soils of the older glaciated areas of the south, or to severe erosion,
as in the unglaciated areas, the soils are lower in fertility. In the rainy
southern areas the soils tend to have a hard pan, or impervious soil layer just
below the surface that impedes natural drainage of the land. Crops can be grown
on such soils, but the yields per acre are lower than in most other areas of
Indiana, and many farmers choose to keep their land in pasture. In much of
southern Indiana the soils best suited to farming are the alluvial soils found
in river valleys.
| E | Plant Life |
Before the land was cleared for settlement
in the 18th and 19th centuries, forests covered more than four-fifths of
Indiana. The forests were mainly deciduous. Grasslands areas occurred in places
between the forested areas and were most extensive in far western Indiana.
Forests and woodlands cover 20 percent of
Indiana. Much of the forested land is now contained in state forests and Hoosier
National Forest. The principal forested areas are in the south. There are small
forested areas in the north, along the shores of Lake Michigan, and elsewhere
along the watercourses. Numerous species of deciduous hardwood trees grow in the
state. Among the most common are black walnut; American sycamore; beech; the
tulip tree, or tulip poplar, which is the state tree; and several species of
oak, poplar, hickory, and maple. Other trees found in much of the state include
the eastern red cedar, honey locust, flowering dogwood, eastern cottonwood,
aspen, and species of elm and ash. Among the trees in the southern counties are
the common persimmon, sweet gum, bald cypress, eastern hemlock, yellow buckeye,
and river birch. In the north are found the tamarack and the yellow birch. In
the lakeshore area known as the Indiana Dunes, and in some hilly, forested areas
of southern Indiana, are found the jack pine and the white pine.
The Indiana Dunes region, much of it
within Indiana Dunes State Park, forms an unusual natural habitat. It is
characterized by high, tree-covered sand dunes, long stretches of beaches, and
numerous marshes. A great variety of trees and other plants grows there within a
very small area. Some of the plants and trees are native to widely different
environments. They include the prickly pear cactus, oaks and beeches common in
the eastern United States, and the lichen mosses and bearberry of the Arctic, as
well as luxurious ferns and more than 20 varieties of orchids.
Wildflowers found in Indiana include the
violet, wild lupine, wood anemone, oxeye daisy, goldenrod, wild carrot, aster,
gentian, and sunflower. The flowering shrubs found throughout the state include
the elderberry, bittersweet, sumac, and wild rose. Among the other plants that
grow in Indiana are the wild peppermint as well as the insectivorous pitcher
plant and species of sundew. Wild cranberries and blueberries are present in a
few remaining undrained swamp areas, where bladderwort, water-milfoil, and
similar plants are also found.
| F | Animal Life |
Bison, or American buffalo, once inhabited
Indiana, but all had disappeared by the time of extensive settlement in the
Indiana region in the early 19th century. The black bear, wildcat, and timber
wolf, common in the 19th century, are also no longer found in the state. The red
fox and the white-tailed deer are still to be found, however. Among the smaller
mammals that are common in Indiana are the muskrat, mink, chipmunk, opossum,
gray squirrel, raccoon, cottontail, striped gopher, and woodchuck.
An estimated 200 species of birds appear
regularly each year in Indiana, although nearly 400 species have been recorded
there. Large numbers of birds pass through the state during the spring and fall
migrations. The migratory routes cross the northwestern and southern sections of
the state, which lie in the so-called Mississippi Flyway. Migratory birds
include species of herons, sandpipers, warblers, blackbirds, sparrows, swallows,
thrushes, rails, and flycatchers. Migratory waterfowl that are also game birds
include the Canada goose, coot, and blue-winged teal and the mallard, black
duck, and other kinds of ducks. One of the state’s principal game birds is the
bobwhite, a species of quail, which is a year-round resident. Other resident
game birds are the ring-necked pheasant, prairie chicken, and ruffed grouse.
Among the great variety of other resident birds in the state are the rock dove,
common crow, herring gull, turkey vulture, killdeer, blue jay, black-capped
chickadee, eastern meadowlark, western meadowlark, white-breasted nuthatch,
several kinds of hawks, owls, and woodpeckers, and the cardinal, which is the
state bird.
The Indiana Dunes are visited by a great
variety of birds that nest or stop over there during migration. Among those not
frequently seen elsewhere in Indiana are the long-tailed jaeger, bald eagle,
sandhill crane, western grebe, and Bewick’s wren.
Fish in the rivers and lakes of Indiana
include the carp, catfish, freshwater drum, gizzard shad, bowfin (or dogfish),
smallmouth bass, largemouth black bass, bluegill, and species of sucker,
sunfish, and gar.
| G | Conservation |
The Indiana department of environmental
management is responsible for air pollution control, water pollution control,
and management of solid waste and hazardous waste. The state department of
health has some responsibilities for drinking water. Most natural resource
operations are under the state department of natural resources. In 2006 the
state had 29 hazardous waste sites on a national priority list for cleanup due
to their severity or proximity to people. Between 1995 and 2000, the amount of
toxic chemicals discharged into the environment increased by 19 percent.
| G1 | Air Quality |
The quality of Indiana’s air is good in
most rural areas, but it is fair to poor in the industrialized northwest, where
soot and dust (particulates) are the primary problem, and along the Wabash and
Ohio Rivers, where sulfur dioxide from power plants is the chief problem. Most
urban areas have high atmospheric pollution levels, owing to motor vehicle
emissions.
| G2 | Waste Management |
Indiana has a solid waste (trash)
disposal program, a hazardous waste program, and a program to prevent leaks from
underground storage tanks, located primarily at fuel stations. Most of Indiana’s
trash is dumped in landfills. Laws enacted in the early 1990s require that new
landfill construction follow strict guidelines to prevent seepage. The laws also
restrict the growing inflow of waste from other states and encourage Indiana’s
efforts in trash recycling.
| G3 | Water Quality |
Groundwater is the source of drinking
water for almost one-third of the state’s population. Indiana’s groundwater
contains limited synthetic organic chemicals, nitrates, brine and salt, and
pesticides, common in agricultural states. All municipal water supplies are
treated to ensure water quality. In 1985 the state legislature set up a loan
fund to enable local communities to construct or expand sewage treatment plants.
The measure has helped to prevent further deterioration of the streams.
| III | ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES |
Native Americans, who lived in Indiana
before the growth of white settlement, combined farming of corn, squash, and
beans with hunting and with gathering of forest products. During the early days
of French settlement in the Indiana country, in the 17th and 18th centuries, fur
trapping, fur trading, and farming were the principal economic activities. With
the beginning of large-scale pioneer settlement early in the 19th century,
farming developed as the predominant activity. Manufacturing industries were
already in operation on a small scale in Indiana by 1860, producing farm
machinery and tools for the settlers, and processing pork for shipment
originally down the Wabash and Ohio rivers and later by rail to the populous
east. The Ohio River and its tributaries served as the state’s major trade route
until the development of railroads beginning in the 1850s. A feverish period of
canal building succeeded in connecting the state’s major waterways by the late
1840s, but the canal trade was soon eclipsed by the railroads. By the end of the
19th century agriculture had become more mechanized and productive, and
manufacturing and mining had also become major sources of income for Indianans.
In the following decades, manufacturing in Indiana continued to expand in volume
and diversity of output. West central areas of the state, rich in clay deposits,
specialized in drainage tiles for the low-lying northern farming areas.
Steel-making expanded rapidly in the first and second decades of the 20th
century, particular in Gary and other centers in northwestern Indiana. Much of
the state’s industrial expansion was subsequently tied to the growing automobile
industry. The state now has a highly diversified industrial base, continuing in
steel refining, tool-making, and metal working, but with increasing reliance on
the manufacture of petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Indiana had a work force of 3,271,000 in
2006. The largest share of them, 31 percent, were employed in the diverse
services sector, doing such jobs as providing legal assistance or working in
restaurants. Another 20 percent were employed in wholesale or retail trade; 18
percent in manufacturing; 14 percent in federal, state, or local government,
including those in the military; 14 percent in finance, insurance, and real
estate; 5 percent in construction; 20 percent in transportation or public
utilities; 2 percent in farming (including agricultural services), forestry, or
fishing; and just 0.2 percent in mining. In 2005, 12 percent of Indiana’s
workers were unionized.
| A | Agriculture |
Indiana ranks 14th among the states in
annual farm income. In 2005 there were 59,000 farms in the state, 48 percent of
which had annual sales of more than $10,000. Farmland occupied 6.1 million
hectares (15 million acres), of which 86 percent was cropland. The rest was
mostly pastureland and woodland. Many of the farm operators also worked off
their farms on other jobs.
| A1 | Crops |
Corn is the leading crop grown in
Indiana. In 1997, two-fifths of all cropland was planted in corn. One-half of
all crop income usually comes from the sale of corn, but even this
underestimates the true importance of corn, since much of it is not sold, but is
instead fed to livestock. Much of Indiana’s corn crop is fed to hogs on the
farms where both are raised. The significance of soybeans has increased in
recent years, approaching corn in terms of value and amount produced. Wheat and
vegetables, especially tomatoes for processing, are also important crops. In
addition, Indiana is noted as one of the few producers in the United States of
spearmint and peppermint, grown mostly in the northwest. In 1997 Indiana ranked
ninth in sales of all crops, but fourth in sales of soybeans and fifth in sales
of corn.
| A2 | Livestock |
Livestock raising is undertaken in
Indiana mostly as a specialty operation, with hogs, cattle, poultry, and sheep
raised on feedlots or in large buildings designed especially for ease of feeding
and waste disposal. Until the 1960s, livestock were found on most farms in
Indiana, but, except in the hillier areas of southern Indiana, the conversion to
specialization is now almost complete. The majority of Indiana farmers no longer
include animal raising within their farming system. As a result, the fences put
up to control animal movement that formerly characterized all farming areas have
now largely disappeared on farms devoted to cash crop farming. Farmers
specializing in hogs, cattle, poultry, or sheep buy or grow corn and soybeans
for feeding to their livestock. Animals are bred in Indiana for sale to local
slaughterhouses. In addition, large numbers of beef cattle and calves, as well
as some hogs and sheep, are shipped from states west of the Mississippi to
Indiana, where they are fattened and “finished” for market. Dairy cattle are
raised mainly in northwestern Indiana and in the vicinity of major urban
centers.
| A3 | Patterns of Farming |
Farming patterns and practices vary
from region to region within the state. The dominant type of farming is the
specialized grain and livestock system that characterizes the most prosperous
Corn Belt sections of the Midwest. The Corn Belt proper extends across the
fertile till plains of the Central Lowland in Indiana. In this part of Indiana,
hogs and cattle are fed on corn and other feed crops and on processed livestock
feed. Most farmers specialize in the production of grain crops that they sell
for cash. So productive and valuable is the land that many farmers cannot afford
to own it or pay taxes on it. As a result, some farms are held as investments by
large corporations and are rented out to tenant farmers. Family-owned farms are
still the most common pattern, however, and the size of farms is increasing as
less productive farmers quit and their operations merged with others. Both
tenant farms and owner-operated farms can produce annual incomes well above the
national average. Prosperous farms, however, tend to be larger than 200 hectares
(500 acres), in order to maximize the use of costly farm equipment.
General farming, similar to but less
specialized than farming in the central and northern parts of the state, is the
main pattern of farming in the hilly or poor-soiled areas of southern Indiana.
Most of the farms in the south raise hogs, cattle, corn, and soybeans. In
addition, tobacco is grown in and near the Ohio River valley. In this section
the land is less productive and the farmers are less prosperous than those
farther north. Most farmers engage in part-time work off their farms to
supplement their income.
In parts of northern Indiana,
especially near cities, there are small farms, where dairying and the
small-scale cultivation of corn, wheat, and vegetables are the chief farm
activities. A number of these small farms are worked on a part-time basis by
workers in nearby urban areas.
| B | Mining |
By value, bituminous coal is the
principal mineral produced in Indiana, which is the ninth leading coal-producing
state in the Union. Other minerals produced include stone, cement, sand and
gravel, crude petroleum, lime, and clays.
Most of the state’s coal comes from the
great coalfield that underlies western and southwestern Indiana as well as much
of adjacent Illinois. Most of Indiana’s annual coal production comes from
strip-mining, in which coal lying near the surface can be easily excavated. The
coal industry was heavily mechanized in the 1950s, resulting in the loss of many
jobs. In 2006 some 31.9 million metric tons of coal were mined in Indiana. A
problem with Indiana coal is its relatively high content of sulfur, a pollutant
that goes into the air when burned. Almost all of the coal is sold to companies
producing electricity from steam-driven turbines and generators, and these
companies must meet federal air pollution control standards. As a result, and
until a price-competitive process for “scrubbing” the coal, or cleaning it of
sulfur, can be developed, the market for Indiana’s coal is likely to decline.
Indiana’s second most important mineral product is stone. Indiana leads all
other states in the production of dimensional stone and is one of the nation’s
major producers of limestone. Most of this superb building material is quarried
in the area between Bloomington and Bedford in southern Indiana. The bulk of the
state’s annual output of limestone and dolomite is used as road fill or for
making cement.
| C | Manufacturing |
Indiana regularly ranks among the top ten
states in annual industrial production, as measured by income contributed by
industry. The manufacture of transportation equipment, particularly automobiles
and automobile parts, was the leading industry in the state in 1996. The forging
of primary metals, notably steel in blast furnaces, contributed substantially to
the state’s economy. Other leading industries were the production of chemicals,
particularly pharmaceuticals; the manufacture of industrial machinery, such as
refrigeration units, engines, and metalworking machinery; the fabrication of
basic metal components; the processing of food products, such as milled corn,
packaged snacks, bottled soft drinks, and bread; the manufacture of electrical
devices, such as small household appliances; and the fabrication of rubber and
plastic products. Among the numerous other goods made in Indiana are furniture
and fixtures, instruments, paper products, lumber and wood products, oil and
coal products, clothing, leather products, and textiles. Printing and publishing
is important, especially in Indianapolis and Hammond.
The state’s principal industrial area,
the Calumet region, borders Lake Michigan and includes the cities of Gary, East
Chicago, Hammond, and Whiting. As one of the leading U.S. centers of heavy
industry the Calumet region specializes in oil refining and in the manufacture
of steel and other primary metals, coke, chemicals, tar, plastics, and cement.
The excellent transportation facilities that serve the heavy industries of the
Calumet link it with the major industrial and urban markets of the Midwest. They
also link it with sources of raw materials, such as the coalfields of
Pennsylvania and West Virginia (a source of coking coal for steel furnaces) and
the iron mines of Minnesota, Michigan, and Canada.
A second important industrial area is in
central Indiana, encompassing the cities of Lafayette, Kokomo, Muncie, Marion,
Anderson, Elwood, and New Castle, and extending into Indianapolis. The wide
range of goods made in this area includes parts and accessories for motor
vehicles, electrical equipment, including electronic components, household
goods, and industrial equipment.
Among the other industrial centers of
northern Indiana are Fort Wayne, where machinery is manufactured, and the South
Bend area, which specializes in transportation equipment. Elkhart is noted for
its production of musical instruments and mobile homes. A variety of other goods
are manufactured in Valparaiso, Michigan City, La Porte, Hobart, and Goshen.
Indianapolis, the chief industrial area in central Indiana, is a center for the
manufacture of trucks, automobile parts, and aircraft engines. Chemicals,
electrical equipment, and machinery are also produced in Indianapolis. In
addition, flour-milling, meat-packing, vegetable processing, and printing are
carried on there. Terre Haute, on the Wabash River, is a center for metal
fabricating and the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, plastics, and food
products.
The chief industrial centers in southern
Indiana lie in the Ohio and lower Wabash river valleys. New Albany, on the Ohio
River opposite Louisville, Kentucky, is a major plywood manufacturing center,
and Jeffersonville, also on the Ohio, is a center for the manufacture of soap
and chemicals. There are a growing variety of industries, including
manufacturing of aluminum, pharmaceuticals, food products, and automobiles in or
near Evansville, in the southwest corner of the state.
| D | Electricity |
Virtually all the electricity generated
in Indiana in the late 1990s came from steam-driven power plants fueled by coal.
Although western Indiana has an abundance of coal, its high sulfur content has
encouraged some utilities to bring in coal from Wyoming. Most of the plants are
operated by privately owned utilities. In 1984 the construction of two nuclear
power plants was abandoned because of escalating costs. Most steam driven power
plants are located along the Wabash and Ohio Rivers.
| E | Transportation |
Rivers were the chief means of
transportation for both settlers and produce during the first half of the 19th
century. In the 1840s canals served temporarily as waterways connecting the
navigable rivers. In the 1850s several railroads were built across the state,
and by the end of the 1850s railroads had superseded waterways as the principal
form of transportation. Today, Indiana, nicknamed the Crossroads of America, is
served by some of the finest waterways, railroads, highways, and other
transportation facilities in the nation.
| E1 | Waterways |
The principal waterway serving the
Calumet region is Lake Michigan, which is part of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence
Seaway system. Major ports on the Indiana lakeshore include Indiana Harbor,
which is administratively a part of the Port of Chicago, two privately owned
ports at Gary and Buffington, and Burns Waterway Harbor in Porter County, built
and administered by the Indiana Port Commission. Most of the freight handled at
the ports on Lake Michigan consists of raw materials for the Calumet industrial
area. Railroads, highways, and canals link the Calumet region with the extensive
port facilities of nearby Chicago and with the Illinois Waterway, which connects
with the Mississippi River. The principal waterway serving southern Indiana is
the Ohio River. Two ports on the Ohio, the Southwind Maritime Center in Mount
Vernon and the Clark Maritime Center near New Albany, load and off-load river
barges. Evansville, down river on the Ohio, also handles river barge
traffic.
| E2 | Railroads |
Northern and northwestern Indiana are
crossed by all the major rail lines to Chicago from the eastern United States
and have one of the greatest concentrations of railroad tracks of any part of
the United States. Other lines serving the rest of the state focus mainly on
Indianapolis, which is one of the principal transportation centers of the
Midwest. Most of the railroad traffic in Indiana consists entirely of freight.
Passenger travel on Amtrak connects Indianapolis with Chicago and northern
Indiana cities with both Chicago and New York City. There are a total of 6,746
km (4,192 mi) of railroad track in Indiana.
| E3 | Highways |
A network of highways and tollways
links the major cities and industrial areas in Indiana. Heavily used by trucking
lines, they provide rapid transportation for much of the state’s farm and
industrial production. Many of the major highways have been built since the
1940s, and they cut across the older road system that divides the flatter areas
of northern and central Indiana into a checkerboard of square sections. Major
east-west interstate highways are interstates 90, 80, 70, and 64, while
principal north-south routes are interstates 69 and 65. Winding roads are found
mainly in the south, where the hilly terrain makes it necessary to follow the
contours of the land. U.S. Highway 40 follows for the most part the Old
National, or Cumberland, Road. Indianapolis is the principal route center in the
state. Other focal points for highways and road traffic include the Calumet
region, where routes for Chicago converge, South Bend, Fort Wayne, and Terre
Haute. The principal bridging points on the Ohio River along the Indiana state
line are New Albany, across from Louisville, Kentucky, and Evansville. There are
153,813 km (95,575 mi) of highways in Indiana, including 1,881 km (1,169 mi) of
interstate freeway.
| E4 | Airports |
Almost every major city in Indiana is
served by a commercial airport. Six of the state’s 12 airports have runways long
enough for even the biggest commercial airliners. The busiest airport in the
state is Indianapolis International, which serves more than 3.3 million
passengers each year.
| F | Trade |
Indianapolis handles most of Indiana’s
wholesale trade and much of the state’s retail trade, although the state also
comes within the trading orbits of Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, Chicago,
and Detroit. Other major commercial centers are South Bend, Fort Wayne,
Lafayette, Terre Haute, and Evansville.
| IV | THE PEOPLE OF INDIANA |
| A | Population Patterns |
According to the 2000 national census,
Indiana ranked 14th among the states, with a total population of 6,080,485. This
represented an increase of 9.7 percent over the 1990 census figure of
5,544,159.
In 2006 Indiana had an average population
density of 68 persons per sq km (176 per sq mi) and was among the more densely
populated states. Population densities were generally much higher in the central
and northern counties than in the southern counties. In large part these
differences reflect the fact that central and northern Indiana contain nearly
all of the state’s principal urban centers and most densely populated rural
areas. Indiana is a predominantly urban state, with 71 percent percent of its
total population living in urban areas in 2000.
Whites constituted 87.5 percent of the
population in 2000. Blacks, most of whom lived in urban areas, formed 8.4
percent of the population, Asians 1 percent, Native Americans 0.3 percent, and
those of mixed heritage or not reporting race 2.9 percent. Native Hawaiians and
other Pacific Islanders numbered 2,005. Hispanics, who may be of any race, were
3.5 percent of the people.
| B | Principal Cities |
Of the five largest cities in Indiana,
three are located in northern Indiana, one in central Indiana, and one in
southwestern Indiana.
Indianapolis, located in the center of
the state, is by far the largest city, with a 2006 population of 795,484. The
city ranks as one of the state’s leading commercial and industrial centers and
as one of the principal transportation centers in the Midwest. Indianapolis also
serves as the state capital of Indiana.
Fort Wayne, the largest city in
northeastern Indiana, is primarily an industrial and commercial center noted for
the manufacture of a wide variety of machinery and metal goods. It had a
population of 248,637 in 2006. Evansville, the largest city in Indiana south of
Indianapolis, had a population of 115,738. It is a commercial center on the Ohio
River in southwestern Indiana. Gary, in the northwestern part of the state, had
a population of 97,715. Gary is the principal city in the Indiana section of the
vast urban area centered on Chicago. The heavily industrialized southern part of
this area, extending from Illinois into Indiana, is known as the Calumet Region.
The Calumet constitutes one of the greatest concentrations of heavy industry in
the United States. In addition to Gary, the Calumet region in Indiana includes
Hammond, which had a population of 78,292, and East Chicago, with a population
of 30,594. South Bend, with a population of 104,905, is a major industrial city
in north Indiana, noted for the manufacture of transportation equipment.
Other major cities include Anderson, an
industrial community in central Indiana; Terre Haute, a manufacturing and trade
center in western Indiana; Muncie, a manufacturing city in east central Indiana;
Kokomo, an industrial city in central Indiana; Richmond, a manufacturing city in
eastern Indiana; Elkhart, a north Indiana city that manufactures musical
instruments and mobile homes; Bloomington, in south central Indiana, the seat of
Indiana University; and Lafayette, a manufacturing center in a farming region of
west central Indiana. Other, smaller cities include Marion and Michigan City,
both industrial cities; New Albany, a plywood-manufacturing city on the Ohio
River opposite Louisville; and Mishawaka, a residential and manufacturing city
adjoining South Bend.
| C | Religion |
The oldest permanent settlement in
Indiana, Vincennes, was founded by French settlers who were Roman Catholics. For
many decades the social as well as religious life of the inhabitants of
Vincennes was centered on the Church of Saint Francis Xavier, established by
Jesuit missionaries early in the 18th century. The first Protestant church in
Indiana was organized by the Baptists in 1801. Three years later, circuit riders
from Kentucky introduced Methodism, which spread rapidly throughout the state.
Other early Protestant denominations active in Indiana included the
Presbyterians, the Disciples of Christ, and the Society of Friends, or Quakers.
The village of Harmonie, or Harmony, an experiment in communal living, was
founded on the Wabash River in 1814 by the German religious leader George Rapp
and his followers. A decade later the Rappites, or Harmonists, sold their
holdings to the British socialist Robert Owen. Today the Rapp-Owen era is
memorialized in New Harmony, much of which has been restored as a living museum
as well as a modern-day trading community.
More than half the church members in
Indiana are Protestants. Of the Protestant denominations the Baptists are the
most numerous, followed by the Methodists and Lutherans. The largest single
denomination in Indiana is the Roman Catholic Church, which accounts for about
one-fifth of all church membership.
| V | EDUCATION AND CULTURAL LIFE |
| A | Education |
Indiana’s state constitution of 1816 was
the first in the United States to provide for a system of free public schools
from the elementary to the university level. However, such a plan proved far too
optimistic for a pioneer society. Most of the voters at that time opposed
taxation for education, which meant that no funding was available to establish
such a system. In the late 1840s and early 1850s the need for free tax-supported
schools in Indiana was strongly urged by Caleb Mills, a prominent Indianan
educator, and in 1851 his recommendations were incorporated in a new state
constitution. Although the development of a public school system was delayed by
legal complications within the state and by the American Civil War (1861-1865),
many public elementary schools were in use by 1870. School attendance in Indiana
is compulsory for all children between the ages of 7 and 18. However, students
of age 16 and 17 may leave high school if they submit to an exit interview and
have written parental approval. Today most children in Indiana attend public
schools, but 11 percent attend private and parochial schools. In the 2002–2003
school year Indiana spent $9,587 on each student’s education, compared to a
national average of $9,299. There were 16.9 students for every teacher (the
national average was 15.9 students per teacher). Of those older than 25 years,
85.2 percent had a high school diploma, compared to an average for the United
States of 84.1 percent.
| A1 | Higher Education |
About one-half of all college students
in Indiana are enrolled in state-supported four-year schools of higher
education. The largest institution is Indiana University, with its main campus
in Bloomington. It was chartered as Indiana Seminary in 1820. Purdue University,
with its main campus in West Lafayette, was chartered as a land-grant college in
1865. The three other state universities are Indiana State University, in Terre
Haute; Ball State University, in Muncie; and the University of Southern Indiana,
in Evansville.
Many of the private colleges and
universities in Indiana are affiliated with religious groups. The University of
Notre Dame is an outstanding Roman Catholic school. Schools affiliated with
Protestant denominations are DePauw University, in Greencastle; Earlham College,
in Richmond; and Valparaiso University, in Valparaiso. Another notable
institution is Butler University, located in Indianapolis. In 2004–2005 Indiana
had 29 public and 70 private post-secondary educational institutions.
| B | Libraries |
Free public libraries were established in
Indiana early in the 1850s and were originally associated with the public school
system. Now 239 public library systems serve all of the state’s counties. Each
year libraries circulate an average of 11.7 books per resident, one of the
highest rates among the states. The largest is the Indianapolis-Marion County
Public Library. Other important libraries in Indianapolis include the Indiana
State Library and the Indiana Historical Society library. The Old Cathedral
Library and Museum in Vincennes has many rare books printed before 1800. The
libraries of the University of Notre Dame, Purdue University, DePauw University,
and Indiana University have several special collections.
| C | Museums |
The Indianapolis Museum of Art is the
state’s principal art museum. It has collections of American, European, and
Asian art. There are also art museums in Evansville, Fort Wayne, and Terre
Haute. The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis has exhibits that explore the
physical and natural sciences, history, world cultures, and the arts.The
Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, in Indianapolis, collects
art of the American West and Native American art and artifacts. Multimedia and
interactive exhibits depict Abraham Lincoln and his times in the Lincoln Museum,
in Fort Wayne.
| D | Communications |
The weekly Indiana Gazette, which
was founded at Vincennes in 1804, was the first newspaper published in what is
now the state of Indiana. Another newspaper, the Western Eagle, was
established at Madison in 1813. In 2002 Indiana was served by 72 daily
newspapers. The leading daily newspapers are the Indianapolis
Star, the South Bend Tribune, the Gary Post-Tribune,
the Munster Times, Fort Wayne’s Journal Gazette and
News-Sentinel, and the Evansville Courier & Press.
An experimental broadcasting plant at
Purdue University was Indiana’s first radio station. The station acquired a
code, 9YB, in 1910, and became fully licensed in 1919. The first commercial
television stations in the state were WTTV in Bloomington and WFBM-TV (now
WRTV-TV) in Indianapolis, which began operations in 1949. In 2002 Indiana had 79
AM and 140 FM radio stations and 36 television stations.
| E | Music and Theater |
In the 1920s the Portmanteau Theater, an
outstanding repertory company, was active in Indianapolis. Today the city again
has an active resident theater company, known as the Indiana Repertory Theater.
The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1930, is now considered one of
the finest orchestras in the Midwest. In addition, Fort Wayne, South Bend, Terre
Haute, and Evansville all have symphony orchestras.
| F | Recreation and Places of Interest |
Indiana has a wide variety of recreational
facilities and tourist attractions. Picnicking, camping, water sports, hiking,
and other outdoor activities are popular, especially in the many state parks,
state forests, and in the state’s one national forest. Indiana’s lakes and
rivers provide game fish for anglers, and its fields and woodlands attract
animal watchers and hunters. There are a number of state memorials that
commemorate famous Hoosiers or events associated with the state’s history. At
one time southern Indiana was noted for its health centers, including the
resorts of French Lick, Dillsboro, and Martinsville, known for their mineral
springs. French Lick still attracts visitors and conventions.
| G | National Forest and National Parks |
Hoosier National Forest covers an area of
78,000 hectares (193,000 acres) in the south-central part of the state. Noted
for its scenic drives, the national forest also has facilities for swimming,
picnicking, camping, hunting, and fishing. The Lincoln Boyhood National
Memorial, adjoining the large Lincoln State Park in Spencer County, includes the
site of the cabin where Abraham Lincoln lived between the ages of 7 and 21 and
the grave of his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln. The George Rogers Clark National
Historical Park, honoring the Revolutionary War colonel who led American forces
in the conquest of the Old Northwest, stands at the former site of Fort
Sackville at Vincennes. The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore includes 6,098
hectares (15,067 acres) of beaches, dunes, and hinterlands along Lake
Michigan.
| H | State Parks |
There are 35 state parks and recreation
areas in Indiana, most providing overnight accommodations. McCormick’s Creek
State Park, northwest of Bloomington, dates from 1916 and was the first state
park established in Indiana. Brown County State Park, the largest, covers about
6,350 hectares (15,700 acres) of rolling hill country in south central Indiana.
Known for its scenic beauty, the park is extremely popular with tourists and
landscape painters. Indiana Dunes State Park extends for 5 km (3 mi) along Lake
Michigan. Its sand dunes, broad sandy beaches, cattail marshes, and woodlands
make it an area of unusual natural beauty. Turkey Run State Park, in west
central Indiana, is noted for its rugged sandstone canyons and winding streams
and for its beech, black walnut, and tulip trees.
In Spring Mill State Park, in the southern
part of the state, some of the state’s largest tulip trees and white oaks form
part of the park’s extensive area of woodlands. The park is also the site of a
restored frontier village including a working water-powered grist mill and
sawmill, log cabins, shops, and houses. A panoramic view of the Ohio River and
the Kentucky shoreline can be seen from a bluff that rises about 120 m (about
400 ft) above the river in Clifty Falls State Park, in southeastern Indiana. The
park is named for its waterfall which is 27 m (90 ft) high. The largest Native
American earthworks in the state is preserved in Mounds State Park, which lies
on the White River just east of Anderson (see Mound Builders). Pokagon
State Park, on Lake James in northeastern Indiana, is a popular center for
winter sports.
There are more than a dozen state
memorials in Indiana. In Angel Mounds State Historic Site is a well-preserved
group of Native American earthworks. The memorial lies along the Ohio River near
Evansville. Indiana Territory State Memorial, at Vincennes, preserves the
building that served as the capitol of Indiana Territory from 1800 to 1813, when
the seat of government was transferred to Corydon. The Corydon Capitol State
Historic Site, in Corydon, preserves the building that served as the second
territorial capitol and, after 1816, as the first state capitol.
Just north of Lafayette is the site of the
Battle of Tippecanoe, where on November 7, 1811, William Henry Harrison’s forces
defeated the Native American confederacy that had been formed by the famous
Shawnee chief Tecumseh. New Harmony State Historic Site, in the town of New
Harmony in southwestern Indiana, includes buildings of the early 19th-century
settlements of Harmony and New Harmony.
| I | State Forests |
Of the 12 state forests in Indiana, the
largest are Clark State Forest, Harrison-Crawford State Forest, Morgan-Monroe
State Forest, and Yellowwood State Forest. All of the state forests offer a
variety of recreational opportunities.
| J | Other Places to Visit |
A number of the many places of interest in
the state are located in the Indianapolis area. Among them is the former home of
the famous poet James Whitcomb Riley. Riley’s birthplace is preserved at
Greenfield, just east of Indianapolis. In southern Indiana is the small village
of Santa Claus. Its postmark appears on millions of letters remailed from there
to children all over the country at Christmastime. At Madison, in the southeast,
are a large number of fine antebellum homes. Southern Indiana is also the site
of one of the largest caves in North America, Wyandotte Cave, which has more
than 55 km (35 mi) of underground passageways. Another notable cave, Marengo
Cave, lies north of Wyandotte Cave. Lincoln Pioneer Village, at Rockport, with
its rustic log structures and two museums, commemorates the early years Abraham
Lincoln spent in Indiana. Conner Prairie Frontier Village, northeast of
Indianapolis, is a reconstructed wilderness trading post. Also in Indiana is a
section of the Lincoln Heritage Trail, a route that links cities and other
places in Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky associated with the life of Lincoln.
The town of Columbus is famous for its many buildings designed by some of the
world’s leading modern architects.
| K | Annual Events |
The best-known annual event in Indiana is
the Indianapolis 500 automobile race that is held on Memorial Day weekend at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, held since 1911. Other annual events in Indiana are
as nearly long standing, such as the Marion Easter Pageant, which has been
telling the story of Easter since 1937. Spring begins the season of festivals
across Indiana, beginning with Tulipfest in Bloomington and the Mushroom
Festival in Mansfield, both in April. The Evansville Freedom Festival runs for
two weeks of parades, dances, and food and culminates with fireworks on the
Fourth of July. Summer events also include the Ethnic Festival in South Bend,
the Three Rivers Festival in Fort Wayne, and the hydroplane boat races during
the Madison Regatta. An October event is the Covered Bridge Festival, held in
Parke County, which claims to have more covered bridges than any other U.S.
county. The state’s admission to the Union is celebrated on December 11, which
is known as Indiana Day.
| L | Sports |
Indiana is known for the quality of its
high school and college basketball and wrestling competition, and the state is
often chosen as the site of national sporting events. Indianapolis is the home
of a professional basketball team, the Indiana Pacers, as well as a professional
football team, the Indianapolis Colts. The Indianapolis Indians, a member of the
Class AAA International League and a farm team for the Cincinnati Reds, also
play in the city.
| VI | GOVERNMENT |
Indiana’s present constitution has been in
effect since November 1, 1851, when it replaced an earlier constitution dating
from 1816. Proposed amendments to the constitution must be approved by a
majority of the members of each house of two consecutively elected legislatures.
They must then be approved by a majority of the voters in an election.
| A | Executive |
The state’s chief executive is the
governor. The governor and the lieutenant governor are jointly elected to
four-year terms. The governor may not serve more than two consecutive terms. The
governor appoints and can also remove the heads of almost all state departments,
boards, and commissions. The governor may veto proposed legislation, although
the legislature can override a veto by a majority vote of the full membership in
each house. The governor may also exercise a so-called pocket veto by failing to
sign a bill passed in the last two days of a legislative session. There are four
other elected officials in the executive branch of the state government. The
attorney general, secretary of state, auditor and treasurer are elected for
four-year terms.
| B | Legislative |
The state legislature, known as the
General Assembly, consists of a 50-member Senate and a 100-member House of
Representatives. Senators are elected for four-year terms and representatives
for two-year terms. Legislative sessions must end after 61 legislative days or
by April 30 in odd-numbered years and after 30 legislative days or by March 1 in
even-numbered years. The governor may call special sessions.
| C | Judicial |
The state’s highest court, the supreme
court, consists of five judges. There is also a court of appeals composed of 12
judges. The governor appoints judges for the supreme and appeals courts from
among nominees chosen by a special commission. After the judges have served for
two years, they must receive the approval of the electorate in a yes or no vote
in order to serve for a term of ten years.
Most Indiana counties have their own
circuit courts and others share a circuit court with a neighboring county.
Circuit court judges are elected for six-year terms. About one-fourth of the
counties have superior courts, and a few of the more heavily populated counties
have juvenile courts, probate courts, and criminal courts, all the judges of
which are elected for four year terms.
There are also city courts, town courts,
and a county court system. Marion County, which includes Indianapolis, has
municipal courts, to which judges are appointed by the governor, and a
magistrate’s court.
| D | Local Government |
Most of Indiana’s 92 counties are headed
by a board of county commissioners. Other elected county officials are the
auditor, treasurer, recorder, clerk of the circuit court, surveyor, sheriff,
coroner, and assessor, all of whom are elected for four-year terms. All
incorporated Indiana cities have the mayor and council form of municipal
government. Towns are governed by boards of trustees. Each township is governed
by a township trustee and township advisory board. The members of the city
councils, boards of trustees, and advisory boards are elected to office.
| E | National Representation |
Indiana elects two U.S. senators and nine
members of the House of Representatives. The state casts 11 electoral
votes.
Since the 1860s Republican candidates
have generally prevailed in Indiana in both national and state elections.
Indiana was one of only ten states to support the Republican nominee against
President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940, and it has been among the most solidly
Republican states in subsequent decades. Republicans have also done well in
races for governor and for the general assembly.
| VII | HISTORY |
| A | First Inhabitants |
Successive stages of human development
have left their traces in Indiana. Nomadic hunters, whose cultures are called
Paleo-Indians by archaeologists, were present 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.
Divided into small bands, they were nomads who hunted large animals like the
giant bison, woolly mammoth, caribou, and musk ox that lived along the edge of
the retreating glaciers that had covered much of North America. As the climate
changed and these large animals either became extinct or retreated to cooler
climates, the hunting cultures had to adapt. They learned to gather mussels,
which they shucked in large mounds, and roots and seeds, which they ground with
stone pestles. This culture, known as the Archaic, lasted in Indiana from about
6,000 to 2,500 years ago.
Later, highly organized groups, known
today as Mound Builders for the ceremonial earthen platforms they built, lived
in the Indiana country. Such mounds are found throughout Indiana, although most
are in the south. The first Mound Builder culture was the Adena, which spread
from the Ohio River valley about 2,500 years ago. It was followed about 2,000
years ago by the Hopewell, which built even bigger mounds. About the year 1200,
the Mississippian culture appeared. Angel Site, an archaeological dig near
Evansville, has the remains of a walled Mississippian village of about 1,500
people that was apparently a political or religious capital of the area.
From about 1100 to 1300, peoples of the
Algonquian language group were coming into Indiana from the north and west. From
the first contact with Europeans until the first decades of the 19th century, at
least 12 Native American peoples inhabited the area. The Miami, Piankashaw, and
Wea lived in Indiana during much of that period. Other groups, such as the
Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Nanticoke, Wyandot, Shawnee, Munsee, Delaware, and
Mahican, lived there for periods ranging from about a year to more than 50
years. In many instances, a Native American group arrived in Indiana ahead of
the white settlers moving westward across the country. They were forced to move
farther west as large numbers of settlers migrated to Indiana. By 1838, few
Native Americans remained in the state.
| B | The Colonial Period |
| B1 | French Exploration and Settlement |
The first Europeans to enter the
Indiana country were from France. René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, is
the first European known to have crossed the region. La Salle passed through
northern Indiana on his way from Canada to the Mississippi River in 1679. By
1710 the French had won the friendship of the local peoples and were carrying on
an active fur trade with them. Shortly after 1715, the French built a fortified
trading post, Fort des Miamis (Fort Miami), at a principal Miami village,
Kekionga, near present-day Fort Wayne. A few years later they built a second
post, Fort des Ouyatanons (Fort Ouiatenon), near present-day Lafayette. These
two forts and, later, Vincennes became links in a chain of French military posts
built to prevent British fur traders from extending their trade into territory
claimed by the French.
Vincennes was the first permanent
settlement by the French. Its founding date is uncertain, but settlers were
there before 1727. A fort was erected at Vincennes about 1732, and in the
following years the settlement developed as the major trading post in Indiana.
Vincennes also became the most important center of French life in the
region.
| B2 | British Rule |
Rivalry between Great Britain and
France in North America led to a series of wars between them in the 18th
century, climaxing with the French and Indian War (1754-1763). The Miami were
allied with the French in that war. Other native peoples sided with the French
or remained neutral. Great Britain won, and in the peace treaty the British
gained all of the former French land claims east of the Mississippi River,
including Indiana.
Within months, British rule was
challenged. A number of Native American groups north of the Ohio River, who
resented the arrogance of British traders and feared encroachment by British
settlers, formed an alliance to drive them out. They began a large-scale armed
conflict, which is called Pontiac’s War (1763-1764) after one of its leaders, a
chief of the Ottawa people. In May and June 1763 the alliance captured seven
British posts, including both Fort Ouiatenon and Fort Miami, which they
destroyed. However, the war failed in its purpose because Pontiac was unable to
capture a key post, Fort Detroit. After Pontiac lifted his siege of Fort Detroit
in October 1763, some fighting with soldiers and settlers continued into the
next year, but the alliance did not organize another campaign. A peace treaty
was made in 1765.
| C | The American Revolution |
The British made no attempt to settle
Indiana, and the Native Americans came to realize that the inhabitants of the 13
colonies to the east, who did covet this land, were a greater threat. Thus,
during the American Revolution (1775-1783), the Miami and the other tribes of
the Ohio Valley fought on the side of the British against the United States.
However, those French who still lived in Indiana tended to sympathize with the
United States.
In the third year of the revolution,
1777, U.S. Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark embarked on a campaign to
wrest control of the Ohio Valley from the British. In July 1778, Clark captured
several British posts in Illinois. He then dispatched emissaries to Vincennes,
from which the British garrison had been withdrawn in January to reinforce Fort
Detroit. Welcomed by that settlement’s predominantly French population, Clark’s
men took over Vincennes, only to have to surrender it to the British in
December. In February 1779, with about 130 U.S. and French soldiers, Clark set
out from Kaskaskia, in southwestern Illinois, on an arduous trek to recapture
Vincennes. Clark’s recapture of this major British post marked the end of
British dominance in the Ohio Valley. It may also have led the British to cede
this area to the United States at the end of the war.
| D | Territorial Period |
At the time of the revolution, Virginia
and several other states of the United States maintained territorial claims in
the west. Shortly after the war they ceded their claims to the federal
government. By the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the United States organized the
possessions north of the Ohio River as the Northwest Territory. As settlers
poured into the new territory from the east, the Native Americans again became
alarmed. Little Turtle, a chief of the Miami, led a widespread revolt in Ohio
and Indiana. It was brought to an end in August 1794, when troops led by U.S.
General Anthony Wayne inflicted a crushing defeat on the Native American forces
at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, near present-day Toledo, Ohio. Wayne then
continued into Indiana and built a stockade across the river from old Fort
Miami. The new fort became the center of a white settlement that is now the city
of Fort Wayne.
In 1795 the Miami signed a treaty with
Wayne, giving up a large part of their land. Between then and 1854 they signed
another 12 treaties, ceding nearly all their lands to the United States. In 1827
most of the tribe moved to Kansas, where the remaining members live today.
In 1800 the Congress of the United
States created the Indiana Territory out of the western part of the Northwest
Territory. The eastern part became the state of Ohio in 1803. The huge new
Indiana Territory was a sparsely populated area. With a settler population of
only about 5,600, it included almost all of what is now Indiana as well as all
of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois and parts of Minnesota. William Henry
Harrison, who had fought under Wayne at Fallen Timbers and was later to become
president of the United States, was appointed the first governor of the Indiana
Territory. Vincennes was designated the capital.
| E | The 19th Century |
Indiana’s settler population grew to
more than 24,000 in the first decade of the 19th century, even though the
territory was greatly reduced in size; Michigan Territory was split off in 1805
and Illinois Territory in 1809. Indiana’s present boundaries were established in
1816 when it became a state. During these years, Governor Harrison concluded a
number of land cession agreements with various Native American groups for lands
east of the Mississippi, including all of southern Indiana. Many of these
peoples eventually regretted the agreements, in which they received extremely
little for their lands.
| E1 | Tecumseh |
Hoping to regain their former
territories, numerous Native American groups banded together under the
leadership of Shawnee chief Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa, who was known
as the Shawnee Prophet. Some in Indiana joined Tecumseh’s confederacy, although
Little Turtle honored his peace treaty and kept the Miami neutral. In 1810
settlements in Indiana began to come under attack. Peace talks between Tecumseh
and Harrison failed. Finally, on September 26, 1811, Harrison and a force of
about 900 men set out from Vincennes toward the Shawnee chief’s headquarters at
Prophetstown, a few miles south of the junction of the Tippecanoe and Wabash
rivers, near present-day Lafayette. On November 7, Harrison’s army defeated an
almost equal force of Shawnee and their allies near Prophetstown, and the next
morning they destroyed Tecumseh’s headquarters. Tecumseh himself was away in the
south at the time.
Tecumseh’s confederacy was broken by
the defeat at the Battle of Tippecanoe, as the battle near Prophetstown came to
be called. However, there was still considerable hostility among the Native
Americans, and most of the peoples north of the Ohio followed Tecumseh’s example
in siding with the British against the United States in the War of 1812. In the
first months of the war the Shawnee massacred settlers at Pigeon Roost in
southeastern Indiana. They also attacked and partly burned Fort Harrison at
Terre Haute, and together with British troops attempted unsuccessfully to
capture Fort Wayne. Little Turtle died that summer, and without his leadership
the Miami joined the war. The last battle of the war in Indiana was fought in
December 1812 between Miami and United States troops in Grant County, along the
Mississinewa River. The battle, which the Miami lost, marked the end of Native
American warfare in Indiana.
| F | Statehood |
In December 1815 the territorial
legislature met at Corydon, which had succeeded Vincennes as the capital in
1813, to draw up a petition for statehood. The petition was approved by
Congress, a state constitution was drawn up, and on December 1, 1816, Indiana
became the 19th state to enter the federal Union. Jonathan Jennings was elected
the first governor of the new state.
At the time of statehood the Native
Americans were officially recognized as the owners of most of central and
northern Indiana, or about two-thirds of the state’s area. Most of the settlers,
who by 1816 totaled more than 60,000, lived in the Ohio and Wabash river valleys
in the south. In 1818, to encourage more settlement, the state government
purchased more Native American lands in central Indiana. The New Purchase, as it
was called, was officially opened for settlement early in 1820. Later in the
year, a site near the confluence of Fall Creek and the west branch of White
River, named Indianapolis (“city of Indiana”) by the state legislature, was
chosen as the future state capital because of its central location. In 1824 the
state government was moved in four farm wagons to Indianapolis from the old
capital at Corydon, and in January 1825 the legislature convened in
Indianapolis.
| F1 | Growth of the Young State |
Following the opening of the New
Purchase, various Native American groups gave up their titles to extensive land
in northern Indiana. With more vast amounts of territory thus open for
settlement, the young state’s settler population rose sharply, from 147,178 in
1820 to 685,866 in 1840 and then to 1,350,428 in 1860.
At first the farms in central and
northern Indiana, like those in the hilly uplands to the south, were small,
self-sustaining units where a variety of crops was raised for local use. Then,
in the late 1830s, farming in central and northern Indiana began to develop
toward large-scale commercial operation in which farmers concentrated almost
exclusively on cultivating corn and wheat and raising livestock. In large part
these changes were spurred by the expansion of the national market for
agricultural products, particularly in the eastern United States. Another major
factor was the suitability of the rich soils and the flat or gently rolling
terrain of the region. In addition, important advances were made in farming
techniques about this time. The increasing availability of improved plows, new
reapers, threshers, and other types of farm machinery made vastly increased farm
output possible. By 1860 northern and central Indiana had been made so
productive that Indiana was one of the leading states in the production of corn,
wheat, and livestock. Much of the grain crop was and still is used to feed
livestock, especially hogs.
The growth of large-scale specialized
agriculture in Indiana was accompanied by the development of transportation
facilities for marketing farm products. Until about 1830 most of the state’s
surplus farm produce was sent down the Wabash and Ohio rivers to New Orleans.
However, as settlement spread to other parts of the state, additional
transportation facilities became necessary. In 1832 work was begun on the Wabash
and Erie Canal to connect Lake Erie with the Wabash at Lafayette by way of the
Maumee River. In addition, in 1836 the legislature passed an extensive internal
improvements bill that provided for the construction of numerous canals,
railroads, and roads in the state. However, the project was interrupted by the
nationwide financial panic of 1837 and was not completed by the state. Instead,
private companies eventually completed most of the work. The state’s financial
difficulties also slowed work on the Wabash and Erie Canal, which became the
nation’s longest canal by extending it to Evansville and was not finished until
1853. By the 1840s, completion of the section between the upper Wabash and Lake
Erie had given Indiana an outlet to Eastern markets.
The first major railroad line in
Indiana, between Indianapolis and Madison, was opened in 1847. In the 1850s
there was extensive railroad building in the state, and a number of railroad
lines were extended across Indiana from the east. By the end of the decade,
railroads had begun to displace waterways as the principal form of
transportation between Indiana and the Eastern states.
| F2 | The Slavery Issue |
The French and the early American
settlers from the South had brought black slaves into Indiana, but the number of
slaves in the state never exceeded 250. Slavery was prohibited under the terms
of both the Northwest Ordinance and the first state constitution of 1816.
Although most Indianans known as Hoosiers were of Southern stock in 1860, they
were from the upland South, where slaves were few, and opposed the extension of
slavery to the territories. Most of them were equally opposed to interference
with slavery where it already existed. Fearing an influx of free blacks and the
resulting economic competition, Hoosiers in 1851 put a clause in the new state
constitution forbidding blacks to settle in the state.
The new Republican Party, organized
in 1854 to oppose the spread of slavery, won power in Indiana in 1860 with the
election of Henry Smith Lane as governor and Oliver P. Morton as lieutenant
governor. When Lane became a U.S. senator in 1861, Morton became governor.
Morton strongly backed Republican President Abraham Lincoln.
| F3 | The Civil War |
Before the 1860 elections, the
Southern state of South Carolina had threatened to secede from the union if
Lincoln won. In December 1860, it did so. Other Southern states soon followed,
and in February 1861 they declared themselves a confederacy, the Confederate
States of America. In April 1861, Confederate forces bombarded a Union fort,
beginning the American Civil War (1861-1865).
Lincoln requested the other states to
send troops to quell the rebellion. Indiana responded, and entered the Civil War
on the Union side. Morton enjoyed a high degree of popular support in the early
part of the war, and it was in large part due to his encouragement that Indiana
contributed 200,000 troops to the Union forces. Later, however, opposition to
Morton and, to a lesser extent, the Lincoln Administration mounted. After a
federal law was passed in 1862 permitting the drafting of soldiers, there were
frequent antidraft riots in Indiana, mainly in the southern part of the
state.
In the 1862 elections to the state
legislature, the Democrats gained control of both houses. During the war, the
Republicans tried to label their Democratic opponents as Copperheads (northern
Democrats sympathetic to the rebels), but on the whole the Democrats in Indiana
supported the Union war effort. They were hostile, however, to the zealously
partisan Morton. In 1863 the hostility between the governor and the legislature
led to a complete cessation of constitutional government and a failure to
appropriate funds to carry on state functions. Morton had to run the state and
finance military operations with money obtained through his personal credit.
Despite this, he was reelected in 1864, running the state as a virtual dictator
until he resigned to enter the U.S. Senate in 1867.
The major military action in Indiana
during the war occurred in the summer of 1863 when Confederate Brigadier General
John Hunt Morgan advanced north into the Ohio Valley with 2,500 men. His troops
attacked the towns of Corydon, Salem, Dupont, and Versailles, looting and
destroying property. The temporarily outnumbered Hoosier militia was no match
for Morgan’s soldiers, who were nevertheless forced from the state and finally
routed in Ohio by Union Army troops.
| F4 | Postwar Politics |
As a U.S. senator for Indiana, after
the war, Morton enthusiastically supported the effort by the Radical wing of the
Republican Party to impose racial equality on the South. This policy got only
moderate support in his state. Nevertheless, in this period blacks gained the
right to vote and to hold office in Indiana.
Control of the state government was
returned to the Democrats in 1872. From this time until 1917, neither party
could establish dominance over the other. Hoosier voters continued a tendency
they have shown in elections since the 1840s: They tend to vote for one major
party nationally and for the opposition party for state and local offices.
| F5 | Postwar Economic Development |
The trend toward large-scale
mechanized agriculture, which began in Indiana before the Civil War, continued
in the decades following the war. Between 1860 and 1890, as new agricultural
implements were invented and old ones were improved, the investment by Hoosiers
in farm machinery more than doubled. To take advantage of their increased
productivity, many Indiana farmers purchased additional land, often going
heavily into debt to do so. In addition, the amount of available farmland in the
state was expanded by the use of drainage systems in poorly drained areas.
The postwar era in Indiana was also
marked by substantial industrial growth, stimulated initially by the war itself.
Numerous small factories were built throughout the state to help meet the
growing demand for manufactured goods in Indiana and in the Midwest. Mining also
became a major economic activity. Coal mining operations on a large scale were
spurred by the demands of heavy industry and by the railroads, which used coal
for fuel. In addition, limestone quarries were extensively developed in southern
Indiana. In 1886 the discovery of natural gas in east central Indiana led to a
flurry of industrial growth in that region. However, the natural gas was used
wastefully, and the supply was nearly exhausted within 15 years.
| F6 | Farm and Labor Problems |
Despite the state’s rapid economic
growth, the decades after the Civil War were a difficult period for many Indiana
farmers and industrial workers. Farmers often felt victimized by excessive
railroad freight and storage rates and by high interest rates. At the same time
the prices they received for their products declined during the postwar decades.
Many farmers found it difficult or impossible to pay off the debts they had
incurred to purchase new land and machinery. Faced with these difficulties, a
considerable number of Indiana farmers looked for work in the new
factories.
Some farmers tried to improve their
economic condition by political action. Like many other Midwestern farmers, they
joined the Grange, a farmers’ social organization whose activities became
largely political in the 1870s. They also backed candidates of various
independent political parties, such as the Greenback Party and later the
People’s Party. These parties advocated government regulation of railroads and
promoted economic policies that would benefit U.S. farmers. The work of the
reform parties resulted in some gains, but the farmers’ situation did not
improve substantially until farm prices began to rise in the last few years of
the 19th century.
The post-Civil War period was also a
difficult time for industrial workers in Indiana. Like workers elsewhere in the
country, Indiana miners and factory workers were often underpaid. They worked
under dangerous conditions, and they went jobless during economic recessions,
such as those of 1873 and 1893. Many workers joined the farmers in supporting
the Greenback Party and similar parties. Some workers joined such labor
organizations as the Knights of Labor, the American Federation of Labor, the
United Mine Workers of America, and the American Railway Union, which was led by
Eugene V. Debs of Terre Haute.
The combination of political pressure
and general labor discontent was instrumental in the passage of progressive
labor laws by the state legislature in 1879, 1893, and 1897. In comparison with
Illinois and other neighboring states, there was little serious labor violence
in Indiana in the late 19th century.
| G | The 20th Century |
| G1 | Growth of Heavy Industry |
Beginning about 1890, Indiana was
swept by a second wave of industrial growth that was to transform it into a
predominantly urban, industrial state by 1920. Growth during this period of
expansion was focused primarily on heavy industry, especially in the Calumet
region of northwestern Indiana. Before 1889, when a large oil refinery was built
at Whiting, the Calumet was a sparsely populated strip of swamps and sand dunes.
In 1905 the Calumet received its major push to development when the United
States Steel Corporation decided to locate its Midwestern mills there. The next
year U.S. Steel laid out the city of Gary, naming it after its chairman of the
board, Elbert H. Gary. By 1920 the Calumet was one of the leading industrial
centers in North America. The plentiful jobs attracted many immigrants from
southern and eastern Europe to Indiana. In 1920 Indiana had a total population
of 2,930,390, slightly more than half of whom lived in urban and industrial
areas.
The period was also notable for the
appearance and growth of the automobile industry in Indiana. The nation’s second
successful gasoline-powered automobile, the Haynes Pioneer, made its debut on
July 4, 1894, in Kokomo, and soon automobile manufacturing plants dotted the
state. Before 1920, Indianapolis rivaled Detroit as the nation’s automotive
manufacturing center. In 1909 the Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened as a
testing and competition facility. The first of its famed 805-km (500-mi)
automobile races was held in 1911.
Indiana farmers prospered in the
early years of the 20th century and during World War I (1914-1918). After the
war, however, inflated costs and declining prices contributed to a farm
recession that continued through the 1920s. Industrial workers fared better,
although there were bitter strikes in Indiana’s coal and steel industries and on
the railroads in the years just after the war. The 1930s, a time of worldwide
economic depression, were difficult for most Indianans. There was widespread
unemployment, particularly in the south. Federal and state aid programs were
undertaken. In January 1937, natural disaster added to Indiana’s difficulties
when the Ohio River flooded much of southern Indiana. Hundreds of Indianans died
in the flood, and property damage was estimated at hundreds of millions of
dollars.
| G2 | World War II and the Postwar Years |
Indiana’s economy, like that of the
nation, underwent a resurgence during World War II (1939-1945). A great range of
goods was produced in the state’s factories, including tanks, airplanes, guns,
and communications equipment.
Continued prosperity marked the
postwar era. Manufacturing remained the leading economic activity, and farming
continued to become increasingly mechanized. Although farm production increased,
the number of farm workers declined. The total number of farms also decreased,
often because small farms were merged to form larger, more efficient units. The
population of the state as a whole rose from 3,427,796 in 1940 to 3,934,224 in
1950.
| G3 | Minorities and Race Relations |
Indiana, despite its name, is
overwhelmingly a region of white people. The history of Native Americans in the
state as organized bodies ended in 1872, when the state’s few remaining Miami
dissolved their tribal bonds. The whites who settled the state were at first
largely from the upland South, but by 1850 large numbers of German and Irish
immigrants were coming in. In the 20th century, with the industrial development
of the Calumet, workers poured in from southern and western Europe. The Calumet
also attracted a generation of black sharecroppers’ children fleeing the
poverty, racism, and violence they had experienced in the Deep South. By 1965
Gary had become the second major city in the United States, after Washington,
D.C., where the black population outnumbered the white.
Blacks, whether slave or free, had
traditionally not been welcome to stay in Indiana. The 1851 constitutional
provision against black immigration was not removed until 1881, although it
became obsolete in 1868 when the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the
United States was ratified, guaranteeing civil rights to blacks in all
states.
However, thousands of blacks were
helped to travel through Indiana via the Underground Railroad, as the network to
help slaves escape to Canada was called. The state was just across the river
from a slave state (Kentucky), had canal towpaths, roads, and highways that
conveniently ran north and south, and had many inhabitants who were outraged by
the harsh federal Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. A particularly active route was
the one through Wayne County, which was largely populated by members of the
Society of Friends, or Quakers, a religious body actively opposed to slavery.
The house of Levi Coffin, a leading Quaker of Wayne County, is today a National
Historic Site; between 2,000 and 10,000 escaped slaves were sheltered in that
house on their way north to freedom.
For a time in the 1920s a secret
antiminority organization, the Ku Klux Klan, was prominent in Indiana politics.
The Klan, which began in the South after the Civil War and was revived there in
1915, flourished in many parts of the country in the 1920s. Processions of robed
and hooded Klan members marched through city streets, burned crosses, and
attempted to enforce its views of society and morality upon the state. In 1924
the Klan used its influence to help elect a sympathetic governor, Ed Jackson,
but internal dissension caused the organization’s influence to fade. After
Jackson was indicted for allegedly offering bribes, the Klan lost momentum as a
political force in the state.
Indiana’s first schools for blacks
were opened in 1869. Most schools in the state were segregated by race for many
years, although many had become integrated by 1949, when segregation in public
schools was ended by state law.
In 1967 Gary became one of the first
major U.S. cities to have a black mayor when it elected Democrat Richard G.
Hatcher. He served five terms, until 1987. During this time, however, steel
production began to decline, many factory jobs disappeared, and poverty in the
black community increased. The population of Gary, about 83 percent black in
1990, continues to decline, with many businesses moving to the suburbs.
| G4 | Recent Developments |
During the 1950s there was continued
industrial growth in the state, particularly in the region along the Ohio River.
This growth was aided by the improvement of transportation facilities. In 1956
the Indiana Toll Road was opened. In 1961 the Indiana Port Commission was
established to plan and develop new deepwater facilities on Lake Michigan.
By 1960 Indiana had a population of
4,662,498. The numerical increase of 728,274 since 1950 was the largest ever
recorded for a single decade in the state’s history.
Indiana’s economic growth slowed
during the national economic recessions of the 1970s and 1980s, mostly because
of a deep slump in production by heavy industry. By 1983, the state’s
unemployment rate was about 12 percent, one of the highest in the nation. In the
early 1980s, many farmers went deeply into debt and hundreds of farms went out
of business. The state’s economy recovered in the late 1980s as some
manufacturing industries made comebacks and as community, social, and personal
service industries grew rapidly.
During the early years of the 1990s,
Indiana’s economy continued to improve as service activities grew in the larger
metropolitan areas and the state’s pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical
industries underwent major expansions. Already Indiana had replaced Pennsylvania
as the nation’s leading steel producer, and the port commission’s deepwater port
on Lake Michigan, as well as its two river ports in southern Indiana, developed
substantial international and national traffic. In 1995 plans for two additional
automobile manufacturing plants in the state were announced, and the following
year a major airline maintenance facility was opened at the Indianapolis
International Airport. Work also continued on an ambitious downtown development
plan in Indianapolis, featuring the $300 million Circle Centre Mall that covers
more than ten city blocks. Opened in 1995, its presence is complemented by
renovations to the city’s convention center, new construction activities at
White River State Park, and a new sports facility, Victory Field, completed in
1996 for the Indianapolis Indians, a minor league baseball team.
In the 1990s Indiana’s generally
strong economy generated record low unemployment figures and a large state
surplus, considerably in excess of $1 billion. The state’s income was augmented
by revenue from newly instituted venues for gambling (at racetracks and
riverboat casinos) and a state lottery begun in the late 1980s.
The issue confronting state
government was how to allocate the surplus responsibly as it continued its
extensive reforms in public education and attempted to meet increasing needs in
the criminal justice system and public transportation. In addition, the state
was considering a larger role in management of medical and social programs
previously handled by the federal government. It was uncertain how extensive
these obligations would be and how much of the surplus should be devoted to
them. Plans for allocating revenues also had to consider demands for a general
tax reduction.
The history section of this article
was contributed by Ralph D. Gray. The remainder of the article was contributed
by Dorothy W. Drummond.
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