Is Indiana considered the eastern corn belt/Eastern Midwest in your opinion? (Columbus: vs., to move)

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Last Second Larry

We started observing DST about 15 years ago, against almost everyone's will (including mine). They finally told us it would "help with business" so people went for it. CST just sounded like getting dark earlier in the winter, whereas EST sounded like staying light later in the summer, so it was a relatively easy choice.

I despise being on the western edge of EST because the morning hours are so dark with later sunrises. It's much harder if you aren't a morning person by default.

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by Jimrob1

I Agree people from New England would feel PA is Northeastern. Living in New England as a kid it felt like both American and Canadian cultures in the region I lived. Which was the border of Northern RI and Mass. However we knew we were in the US but seriously it felt like Quebec much of the time lol. Very heavy populations of French Canadians that worked in all the factories and Mills. Life was in both French and English for me, and French was a required language at the local schools. I'm not French I'm Irish alot of us in New England also,, along with the Portuguese and Brazilian.






Perhaps people that feel Pittsburgh is Midwestern feel the city has a Midwestern feel to it vs a Northeast feel. Either or Geographically Pittsburgh and all of PA is a Northeast region. Indiana is and always will be a Central USA Midwestern State.

I was born and raised in the Hartford area. Frog Hollow in Hartford at one time had a lot of French Canadian transplants living there. Many of their descendants still live in the Hartford metro area. Most own Sheet Rock businesses. LOL That was a running joke a few decades ago. Seemed like half the French Canadian transplants hung sheet rock for a living.

RI demographics are similar to CT. Heavy with Italians, English, Irish, French and also people from Portugal and Cuba. A fair number of Puerto Rican's live in the Hartford area as well.

Indiana is obviously Midwestern. The only other time it could have been considered to be in a different region was two hundred years ago. A western state then. :-)

[Last Second Larry]

Originally Posted by Toxic Toast

Indiana was already on Eastern Time when we started observing DST. That didn't change, and it wasn't up for debate in 2005. There were a couple of border counties that switched to Central, but I believe most of those have gone back.

That isn't quite correct. For over 50 years Indiana was "unofficially" but for all practical purposes fully on Central Time. The federal government screwed it all up in the 60s. It wasn't until the late 60s/early 70s that we were switched to Eastern by a combination of federal and state governments, despite heavy opposition.

When Daniels pushed us into DST it was also in the face of heavy opposition, mostly from people who wanted to prevent DST, but there were also many who wanted to use the legislative opportunity to switch back to Central.

Also there were over 20 counties observing Central time in 2006; today there are about 12 counties that are still observing Central.

[Toxic Toast]

Originally Posted by Last Second Larry

That isn't quite correct. For over 50 years Indiana was "unofficially" but for all practical purposes fully on Central Time. The federal government screwed it all up in the 60s. It wasn't until the late 60s/early 70s that we were switched to Eastern by a combination of federal and state governments, despite heavy opposition.

When Daniels pushed us into DST it was also in the face of heavy opposition, mostly from people who wanted to prevent DST, but there were also many who wanted to use the legislative opportunity to switch back to Central.

I was specifically referring to the 2005/2006 switch to DST at which point in time, most of Indiana was officially in fact definitely on Eastern Time, excluding of course Evansville and the region. Prior to the switch to DST Indiana, excluding Eville/Region, was EST year round. In the summer EST just so happened to coincide with CDT. If you want to argue semantics over that, go nuts.

Originally Posted by Last Second Larry

Also there were over 20 counties observing Central time in 2006; today there are about 12 counties that are still observing Central.

It would make any sense for The Region to be on a different time zone as Chicago, so Central makes pretty obvious sense there. When I was in college, the Evansville C&P used to run letters all the time from people who wished E-ville could join the rest of the state on Eastern Time.

[indy_317]

When I travel, I feel Ohio is the eastern border of the corn belt or Midwest.

As far as the time zone, I think switching to daylight savings time may have served a purpose at sometime in the past, but prior to the pandemic, it seems the country was more 24/7 than ever before. Stores stayed open later, some 24/7. It seemed more and more fast food places, especially those along major interstate exits, were starting to stay open till 2 or 3AM with some going 24/7. For example, before the pandemic hit, the McDonald's at Hamilton Town Center mall in Noblesville/Fishers area was a 24/7 McDonald's. Also, the shipping industry was close to 24/7 depending on the company. All these Amazon, Walmart, etc. warehouses going up all over the place almost always have more than the traditional M-F day shift. If we ever get back to that, I'm not sure if switching clocks even makes sense since energy usage will always been consumed in some fashion given the change from a M-F, day shift only type society.

I've always predicted that if areas like Indy switched to Central time, many people might hold off shopping, eating out, etc. during the really cold winter weeks till the weekend. I can see leaving work where it getting dark, or already dark, and people just wanting to get home where it is warm and comfortable. I think we'd see a huge rise in the number of people out and about on the weekends as people would much rather use available sunlight for shopping and entertainment vs dealing with the dark and cold nights after work.

[Kluch]

Originally Posted by indy_317

When I travel, I feel Ohio is the eastern border of the corn belt or Midwest.

As far as the time zone, I think switching to daylight savings time may have served a purpose at sometime in the past, but prior to the pandemic, it seems the country was more 24/7 than ever before. Stores stayed open later, some 24/7. It seemed more and more fast food places, especially those along major interstate exits, were starting to stay open till 2 or 3AM with some going 24/7. For example, before the pandemic hit, the McDonald's at Hamilton Town Center mall in Noblesville/Fishers area was a 24/7 McDonald's. Also, the shipping industry was close to 24/7 depending on the company. All these Amazon, Walmart, etc. warehouses going up all over the place almost always have more than the traditional M-F day shift. If we ever get back to that, I'm not sure if switching clocks even makes sense since energy usage will always been consumed in some fashion given the change from a M-F, day shift only type society.

I've always predicted that if areas like Indy switched to Central time, many people might hold off shopping, eating out, etc. during the really cold winter weeks till the weekend. I can see leaving work where it getting dark, or already dark, and people just wanting to get home where it is warm and comfortable. I think we'd see a huge rise in the number of people out and about on the weekends as people would much rather use available sunlight for shopping and entertainment vs dealing with the dark and cold nights after work.

I wish Indy (and/or most of Indiana) was on central time. Yes it would get darker sooner but the sun would come up earlier in the morning (tradeoff). Maybe I hold this viewpoint because we moved from the Chicago area but I genuinely wish Indy had stayed on central time. Having sunlight (in the summer) until 9pm is kind of nice... sometimes, I guess (if you're a night owl). But I'd rather have the sun go down sooner and get an extra hour of light in the morning. My wife has complained many times since moving here that waking up at 6am feels like waking up at 3am because the sun doesn't come up for another 2 hours and I have to agree. I guess it's all personal preference but having grown up in Columbus (OH) I feel Ohio's location is better suited for Eastern time.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Kluch

I wish Indy (and/or most of Indiana) was on central time. Yes it would get darker sooner but the sun would come up earlier in the morning (tradeoff). Maybe I hold this viewpoint because we moved from the Chicago area but I genuinely wish Indy had stayed on central time. Having sunlight (in the summer) until 9pm is kind of nice... sometimes, I guess (if you're a night owl). But I'd rather have the sun go down sooner and get an extra hour of light in the morning. My wife has complained many times since moving here that waking up at 6am feels like waking up at 3am because the sun doesn't come up for another 2 hours and I have to agree. I guess it's all personal preference but having grown up in Columbus (OH) I feel Ohio's location is better suited for Eastern time.

Exactly! I have no idea why so many people prefer to be on EST when the morning hours are so much darker, especially if a cloudy weather pattern is in place.

[Kluch]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Exactly! I have no idea why so many people prefer to be on EST when the morning hours are so much darker, especially if a cloudy weather pattern is in place.

In my opinion, when considering Indy's geographical location, there aren't a lot of upsides to being on EST. Given Indy's proximity to Chicago, it would seem more ideal to have the timezone align with Chicago's. Especially since remote work is much more common now and people are relocating (for example, when we still lived in Chicago but I changed employers to an Indiana based company all my meetings were an hour earlier because of the time zone difference). Most people I speak to about it in the Indy area generally wish Indy was still on Central as well.

[Toxic Toast]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Exactly! I have no idea why so many people prefer to be on EST when the morning hours are so much darker, especially if a cloudy weather pattern is in place.

I prefer it not be dark at 4:30 in the afternoon, and I love the late summer sunsets.

Originally Posted by Kluch

In my opinion, when considering Indy's geographical location, there aren't a lot of upsides to being on EST. Given Indy's proximity to Chicago, it would seem more ideal to have the timezone align with Chicago's. Especially since remote work is much more common now and people are relocating (for example, when we still lived in Chicago but I changed employers to an Indiana based company all my meetings were an hour earlier because of the time zone difference). Most people I speak to about it in the Indy area generally wish Indy was still on Central as well.

I live in Indy, and I prefer eastern time.

[Last Second Larry]

Originally Posted by Kluch

In my opinion, when considering Indy's geographical location, there aren't a lot of upsides to being on EST. Given Indy's proximity to Chicago, it would seem more ideal to have the timezone align with Chicago's. Especially since remote work is much more common now and people are relocating (for example, when we still lived in Chicago but I changed employers to an Indiana based company all my meetings were an hour earlier because of the time zone difference). Most people I speak to about it in the Indy area generally wish Indy was still on Central as well.

Personally, the only advantage I've experienced with EST is an extra hour of backyard gardening after work, or whatever outdoor activity.

However, the huge disadvantage is people who work full-time outside, especially farmers. We are stuck in the field an hour later, and it's hard to get the hands to stay late. Being on Central time farming would be more of a 9-5ish job, and maybe a little time to socialize in the evening.

Also route driving is harder in the morning in the winter due to EST. School bus drivers complained that the roads were still icy in the morning back when we first switched to EST from CST, and then came the 2 hour delays, which screwed up people's workdays.