What time is it in Indiana? Eighty counties in Indiana observe Eastern Standard Time with Daylight Saving Time. Twelve counties, six counties near Chicago and six counties including Evansville, observe Central Standard Time with Daylight Saving Time. Was more of Indiana ever on Central Time? Prior to 1883 there was no national standard of time. On November 18, 1883, the railroads put in place four time zones across the US placing all of Indiana in Central Time. While many cities followed "railroad time", time zones were not added to Federal Law until 1918. As time passed time zone boundaries were shifted west. In 1961 the Interstate Commerce Commission (then responsible for setting time zone boundaries) divided Indiana roughly down the middle placing the counties around Indianapolis and the east half of the state in Eastern Time. This division was in response to petitions from Eastern Time proponents in Indianapolis, southern Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. A few years later the boundary was redrawn in 1969 to create zones roughly the same as we have today. (The net change from 1969 to today is Pike County leaving Central Time and Perry County returning to Central Time.)
Should more of Indiana return to Central Time? That is a good question. The last major overhaul of time zones in Indiana was in 2006. In 2005 the Indiana legislature passed a bill that led to the entire State of Indiana observing Daylight Saving Time (instead of just the Central Time counties and a few "unofficial" observances near Louisville and Cincinnati). As part of the legislation the US Department of Transportation was asked to hold hearings to determine the correct time zone boundaries for Indiana. Since holding hearings without a specific preference for a boundary change is not the normal process, the DOT asked counties to file petitions specifying the zone that each county desired. 18 counties filed to move to Central Time. 5 counties filed to remain in Eastern Time. 56 counties made no filing (Fountain County filed then repealed their filing). In 2006 eight counties were moved from Eastern to Central Time. By November of 2007 six of those counties returned to Eastern Time. What has changed since 2007 that would change the outcome of the process? Why not study another attempt to change the boundary? Past performance often is indicative of future results. Asking the same question over and over without changing the situation is not productive. How the issue is approached depends on the desired outcome. If the desired outcome is to move the entire state to Central Time (as it was prior to 1961) one needs to have statewide support for a change. Support for statewide Central Time did not exist in the 1960s and does not exist today. If the desired outcome is to move a block of counties to Central Time then support needs to be found in all the counties one desires to move. At this point support for a change is too limited to proceed. More support is needed before spending State resources.