Southwestern Indiana

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Indiana Regions with Southwestern Indiana Highlighted. The gray counties are on Eastern Time, while the white counties are on Central Time.
Indiana Regions with Southwestern Indiana Highlighted. The gray counties are on Eastern Time, while the white counties are on Central Time.

Southwestern Indiana is a 11-county region of Indiana located at the southernmost and westernmost part of the state. Most of the outer counties portrude out into the neighboring states of Illinois and Kentucky. Evansville and Vincennes are the largest cities in the region. Southwestern Indiana's combined population is 465,338 as of the 2000 census, although estimates place it at close to 500,000 as of 2007 with nearly all of the counties gaining modestly with at least two of them, Gibson and Warrick, showing accelerated residential development.

Contents

[edit] Counties

Number Name County Seat Time Zone Population (2007) (Rank) Area (Rank) Townships
14 Daviess Washington Eastern 32,200 (6) 437 sq mi (1,130 km²) (3) 10
19 Dubois Jasper Eastern 40,260 (3) 435 sq mi (1,130 km²) (4) 12
26 Gibson Princeton Central 38,750 (5) 526 sq mi (1,360 km²) (1) 10
42 Knox Vincennes Eastern 38,880 (4) 524 sq mi (1,360 km²) (2) 10
51 Martin Shoals Eastern 13,575 (11) 341 sq mi (880 km²) (10) 6
62 Perry Tell City Central 22,665 (9) 386 sq mi (1,000 km²) (8) 7
63 Pike Petersburg Eastern 14,440 (10) 342 sq mi (890 km²) (9) 9
65 Posey Mt. Vernon Central 30,050 (7) 429 sq mi (1,110 km²) (5) 10
74 Spencer Rockport Central 25,200 (8) 401 sq mi (1,040 km²) (7) 9
82 Vanderburgh Evansville Central 195,750 (1) 236 sq mi (610 km²) (11) 8
87 Warrick Boonville Central 61,550 (2) 424 sq mi (1,100 km²) (6) 10

[edit] River boundaries

Every county in Southwestern Indiana is bounded by a river at one point, whether it be by the Wabash River along the west, The Ohio River by the south, the White River, dividing the six northern counties or other smaller rivers. More tha 50% of the boundaries of Gibson, Knox, Posey, and Spencer Counties are dictated by a river. 80% of Knox County's boundaries are dictated by either the Wabash River or the White River.

[edit] Economy

Evansville is the dominant city in the area. Southwestern Indiana is one of the most economically stable areas of Indiana, despite time zone issues. Several Counties continue to grow in population, despite the recent housing market crash. Gibson County having one of the fastest rates of manufacturing growth in the state is located in Southwestern Indiana.

[edit] Population

Southwestern Indiana is a mostly rural area with population spread out across several counties. Only one county has more than 100,000 people, Vanderburgh.

[edit] Cities

Southwestern Indiana has clusters of separate towns of varying sizes and layouts from Vincennes, the second largest city, being laid out in the French Quadranglar, and very disorienting to tell north from northeast, to Jasper and Princeton, being laid out in the standard layout, to Evansville, being laid out in both modes of survey, with its downtown being mapped out from the river to the rest of the city being laid out in the standard formation.

[edit] Cities of 20,000+

[edit] Cities of 10,000 - 20,000

[edit] Towns and cities of 2,000 - 10,000

[edit] Towns and cities of 1,000 - 2,000

  • Newburgh population is based on in-city population. Almost 20,000 people have postal addresses in Newburgh, Indiana.
  • Chandler population is also based on in-city population. Another 6,000 people have addresses in Chandler, Indiana

[edit] Timezone

[edit] History

From 1966 to 2006, the five southwesternmost counties—Gibson, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh, and Warrick—observed Central Daylight Time. The six northern and eastern counties—Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin, and Perry—observed a year-round Eastern Standard Time as did the rest of the state.

[edit] United again (if only briefly)

In 2006, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels pushed through legislation that would put the counties on Eastern Time onto Eastern Daylight Time. This action threw both Southwestern and Northwestern Indiana into chaos as counties started to argue with one another as to whether to return to Central Time or remain on Eastern Time and start observing Eastern Daylight Time. On March 15, 2006 (The first year of the extended Daylight Savings Time), Southwestern Indiana was once again united in one Time Zone, Central Daylight Time.

[edit] Economics in the mix

Not even a month after the change, people began to complain about some of the same problems that people that lived in the original Central Daylight Time counties had been complaining about for years. Most prevalent was the complaint that the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center had become a "time island". The worker's union of the base subsequently petitioned the Martin County Commissioners to repetition for a change back to Eastern Time. The resulting chain reaction resulted in all of the former Eastern Time counties, along with two Central Time counties, Gibson and Spencer, petitioning for a change to Eastern Time.

On September 20, 2007 after only 15 months and only one winter on Central Time the DOT returned only five of the eight applicants to Eastern Time. Gibson, Perry and Spencer counties did not have enough support to return or to go to Eastern Time. However, three of the five counties, Daviess, Knox, and Pike counties there wasn't that much support either, but "convenience of commerce" was given as the reason for their time changes, despite commute patterns into Evansville and the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana plant in Gibson County. In Dubois County, there is a heated disagreement between Huntingburg and Jasper over the topic. Most of Huntingburg's industry and economy is geared towards the Central Time Zone where Owensboro, Kentucky and Spencer County, where the Huntingburg area's largest employers, AK Steel and Holiday World are located. Jasper, on the other hand, insists that the majority of its business is aimed at the Eastern Seaboard and it would be in the interest of the county to return to Eastern Time

[edit] Day of change, again

So whether it was supported or not, Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin, and Pike returned to Eastern Daylight Time on November 4, 2007, once again dividing Southwestern Indiana. The DOT has stated that it will not hold any more hearings on the subject until the fall of 2008. [1][2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Indiana does time warp again: Local News: Evansville Courier Press
  2. ^ DOT Moves Five Indiana Counties from Central to Eastern Time