Moving to Indiana - Indianapolis, Evansville, South Bend

The subject of relocating, or relocation can be intimidating to some folks who have to move for one reason or another. A large relocation company, when relocating a family can not always give the kind of personal relocating services that we can. We hope that when searching for us with a search engine you use some of the following keywords: estate, real estate, home, homes, house, housing, realtor, escrow, mortgage, finance, financing, refinance, refinancing, for sale, property, properties, mover, movers, relocation, relocate, marketing, advertising, appraisal, Arizona, Arkansas, California, New York, Florida, District of Columbia, Illinois, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming. If you are reading this, thanks for coming.

Moving to/arizona alabama arkansas california colorado connecticut delaware district of columbia florida georgia idaho illinois indiana iowa kansas kentucky louisiana maine maryland massachusetts michigan minnesota mississippi missouri montana nebraska nevada new hampshire new jersey new mexico new york north carolina north dakota ohio oklahoma oregon pennsylvania Rhode Island South carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming.

One of five eastern north central states, Indiana is bordered on the west by Illinois, on the north by Michigan and Lake Michigan, and on the east by Ohio. The Ohio River follows Indiana's southern border with Kentucky. The state is rectangular in shape, and its capital, Indianapolis, lies near its center. Indiana has an extreme length of 451 km (280 mi) and a breadth of 257 km (160 mi), giving it an area that makes it the 38th largest state.
Indiana was part of the early Northwest Territory; it became a state in 1816. Its name recalls the inhabitants at the time of the first colonial exploration in 1679. The nickname "Hoosier State" is thought to be derived from the pioneers' greeting to strangers, "Who's yere?" Indiana has a large, accessible market. It is located near several large metropolitan areas in neighboring states. Its Great Lakes and Ohio River ports, along with its major highways, provide Indiana with access to much of the nation.
LAND AND RESOURCES
Indiana has three distinct natural regions: the northern lakes, the central plains, and the southern hills and valleys. The sand dunes along Lake Michigan are considered by many to be the most scenic feature of the northern region. The central plains are flat or gently rolling, but the Wabash River and some of its tributaries have dissected the western part of the state, creating slopes and valleys. The southern hills are primarily limestone. Weathering has resulted in the formation of caves, sinkholes, underground streams, and mineral springs. Along the Ohio River, the bluffs are rugged and scenic.
All of Indiana except the south central portion was glaciated. Deposits of clay, sand, gravel, and boulders filled the preglacial valleys, and deep and fertile soils, primarily gray brown podzols, have developed. Under the till is stratified limestone, shale, and sandstone.
Drainage
Streams flowing to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Wabash and Ohio rivers drain 97 percent of Indiana. The Wabash River originates in west central Ohio, crosses central Indiana, and then flows southward into the Ohio River, draining about two-thirds of the state. Through the lower one-third of its course, it follows the boundary between Indiana and Illinois. The principal tributary of the Wabash is the White River. The Whitewater River drains southeastern Indiana into the Ohio, while the Kankakee drains much of northwest Indiana. The Saint Joseph River, in northern Indiana, flows into Lake Michigan. A small portion of northeastern Indiana is drained via the Maumee River into Lake Erie.
Climate
Indiana's continental climate is characterized by hot, humid summers and cold and moist winters. January mean temperatures range from 2 degrees C (35 degrees F) in Evansville to - 4 degrees C (25 degrees F) in South Bend. July temperatures at the same locations are 26 degrees C (78 degrees F) and 23 degrees C (73 degrees F), respectively.
Major temperature variations are caused by differences in latitude, elevation, terrain, and--in winter--by the lake effect. Moisture is picked up from Lake Michigan by air masses moving across it. When the warmer moisture-laden air moves over the colder shore surface, it loses its ability to hold water vapor, resulting in the state's heaviest snowfalls.
The growing season varies from 160 days in the north to 178 days in the south. Annual precipitation averages 864 mm (34 in) in the north and 1,118 mm (44 in) along the Ohio River. Most precipitation is caused by continental air masses mixing with humid tropical air masses from the Gulf of Mexico.
Vegetation
About 20 percent of Indiana was covered with prairie grass at the time of settlement, and the remainder was dense hardwood forests that settlers cleared for lumber and farming. Today about 18 percent remains wooded. Of the 124 native tree species, the most abundant are sycamore, maple, oak, and beech.
Wildlife
During the early years of settlement, wilderness life was threatened by commercial hunters and farmers, who cleared the land for agriculture. Bear, buffalo, deer, and wolves disappeared from the area. Smaller game species were also threatened.
During the 1880s, Indiana pioneered in the enactment of environmental-protection legislation. Today, among the larger animals, only the deer have been replenished. Small animals, namely cottontail rabbits, raccoon, fox, and opossum, have increased in number, however. The populations of pheasant, grouse, and wild turkey have also grown, as have those of the fish in Indiana streams.
Resources
Bituminous coal is the state's most significant mineral resource, and Indiana is usually among the ten leading coal-mining states. Most coal is found in southwest Indiana, where about 16,835 sq km (6,500 sq mi) are underlain by coal seams. Clay deposits, gypsum, and sand and gravel are also found in the state, as are petroleum and natural gas. Indiana limestone is world renowned for construction. Abundant groundwater is found in the sand and gravel deposits of glacial till.
PEOPLE
Among the 50 states, Indiana ranks 14th in population. Most of the early settlers came to Indiana from the South and were predominantly of English, Scottish, and Welsh extraction. Germans and Irish followed. Immigrants from Europe came to Indiana's cities during the period between the Civil War and the years immediately following World War I, lured by employment opportunities in the developing industries. As a result, Indiana's population grew steadily, and the state became more urbanized. Its largest cities are Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Evansville, Gary, and South Bend. Blacks, with about 8 percent of the population, are the largest ethnic group.
A majority of the state's population are Protestants. Roman Catholics constitute less than 15 percent, and Jews, less than 1 percent.
Education
Indiana's educational system developed gradually after the state was organized. The first free kindergarten, trade school, and coeducational teaching system in the United States were founded in New Harmony, Ind. Butler University (1855) was among the first institutions of higher learning to admit women.
Indiana has numerous colleges and universities. More than half of the college population attends the 5 state universities. For further information, see Indiana, state universities of.
Culture
Cultural institutions include Clowes Hall, on the Butler University campus in Indianapolis, home of a symphony orchestra and theatrical touring companies. The Indianapolis Museum of Art houses major collections in most mediums.
A major sporting event is the Indianapolis 500 automobile race, held in late May of each year in nearby Speedway. Basketball is the major sporting activity from elementary school through college, and the sport maintains a passionate following among the residents.
Information is supplied by a network of newspapers, radio, and television media, and several universities have in-house newspapers and broadcasting facilities. The Indianapolis Star and News have the largest newspaper circulations in the state. A few magazines also are published.
The state has produced several noted writers, some who used local themes in their works. Among them are Theodore Dreiser; Edward Eggleston, author of The Hoosier Schoolmaster; and James Whitcomb Riley, the Hoosier poet. Indiana's songwriters include Cole Porter, Hoagy Carmichael, and Paul Dresser, composer of "On the Banks of the Wabash." Robert Indiana, born in New Castle, chose to use the name of his home state when he embarked on his career as an artist. T. C. Steele enriched the appreciation of Indiana's landscape with his art.
Columbus, Ind. (1990 pop., 31,802), is known for its many noteworthy buildings. In a program begun in 1957, city officials and community leaders commissioned world-famous architects, including Eero Saarinen and Harry Weese, to design buildings for the city. These structures, along with the city's pedestrian mall, have made Columbus an example of modern urban planning.
ECONOMY
The Calumet region in northwestern Indiana is a major industrial center in the state. Its proximity to Chicago's market, combined with its Great Lakes location, has enabled the area to remain economically competitive. Indiana's proximity to the industrial centers of Detroit, Mich., and Toledo, Ohio, also has fostered economic growth. Service industries, however, account for about 60 percent of the gross state product.
Agriculture
Corn and soybeans are the state's most valuable cash crops. Wheat, oats, tobacco, hay, rye, apples, and peaches also contribute significantly to the economy. Indiana is among the nation's leading producers of spearmint and peppermint, both of which are grown in the rich muck soils of the northern lake region. Indiana is an extensively farmed state; more than 70 percent of the land is devoted to agriculture. The chief livestock are hogs and beef cattle. Turkeys and chickens are also raised.
Mining
Extractions of bituminous coal through strip mining takes place in the southwestern quarter of Indiana. The coal is shipped north to the Calumet region or south on the Ohio. Building stone is quarried in the south central region. Indiana limestone has been used for buildings such as the Empire State Building and the Pentagon. Clay and gypsum are utilized in various industries.
Manufacturing
The major cities of the Calumet region--Gary, Hammond, East Chicago, and Whiting--produce iron, steel, and petroleum products. Rural industrial parks and manufacturing in other Indiana cities account for a variety of industrial products. Automotive parts are produced in Kokomo, Fort Wayne, Columbus, and Indianapolis. Other manufactures are fabricated aluminum, chemicals, clay products, and furniture. Indiana ranks high among the states in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, manufactured housing, and musical instruments.
Tourism
Indiana has an abundance of forests, lakes, sand dunes, and pleasant landscapes, as well as national, state, and county parks, state memorials, historical sites, and museums.
The state's fields and forests are hospitable to a variety of wildlife. There is deer hunting and the limited hunting of wild turkey. Natural and artificial bodies of water support normal growth of fish populations and fish hatcheries for bass, bluegill, crappie, and catfish. Lake Michigan, under careful guidance, is returning as a fishing site. Many fish are caught from ponds formed in abandoned strip mines.
The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in the north preserves the beach shore of Lake Michigan. Brown County State Park is well known for its fall foliage and for the artist colonies in its vicinity. Wyandotte Cave in Harrison County is one of the nation's largest. West Baden Springs near the Hoosier National Forest has mineral springs, and nearby French Lick draws many visitors each year for sports, mineral baths, and relaxation. In the past two decades several ski resorts have developed. Historic Indian sites are found at Mounds State Park near Anderson and Angel Mounds near Evansville. Other tourist attractions include historic Vincennes, Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home in Spencer County, and the restored communal settlement at New Harmony.
Transportation
One of the first stagecoach routes, the National Road, was constructed through Indiana soon after statehood. By 1840, steamboats and flatboats plied rivers and canals until the advent of the railroad. In addition to rail and state highway facilities, Indiana has five interstate roads and a toll road with four interstates serving Indianapolis. There are also more than 100 airports for public use in the state.
Indiana's water-transportation facilities include Burns Harbor on Lake Michigan, which accommodates oceangoing ships, and the Ohio River ports at Jeffersonville and Mount Vernon, which accommodate barge traffic.
Energy
Indiana's primary sources of energy are petroleum and coal, which nearly all of the state's electrical energy derived from coal. There are no nuclear plants in operation in Indiana.
GOVERNMENT
Structure
Indiana's original 1816 constitution was replaced in 1851 by its present one. Amendments to the constitution require approval by a majority of both general assembly houses in two consecutive legislatures and by a majority of voters.
The general assembly consists of 50 senators and 100 representatives. Senators are elected to four-year terms and representatives to two-year terms. The state supreme court consists of five judges, appointed by the governor. There are also circuit, city, town, and justice of the peace courts.
All of Indiana's 92 counties, except for Marion County (Indianapolis), are governed by a board of county commissioners. Cities operate under a mayor-council form of government, while towns are governed by boards of trustees. Indianapolis-Marion County has a mayoral form of government.
J. Lee Guernsey and Reviewed by Benjamin Moulton
Politics
Politics in Indiana is a closely knit operation, resistant to outside influences or national politics. The governorship has not been dominated by any particular party nor has representation at the national level.
Two U. S. presidents have been closely associated with Indiana. William Henry Harrison, victor in the Battle of Tippecanoe, had been a territorial governor of Indiana. He was elected president in 1840 as the candidate of the Whig party. His Republican grandson, Benjamin Harrison, was an Indianapolis lawyer before his election to the presidency in 1888. The last major-party presidential candidate from Indiana was Wendell L. Willkie, who was defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the election of 1940. Native son Eugene V. Debs, a prominent Socialist party leader, was a third-party presidential candidate in several elections in the early 20th century. Several U. S. vice-presidents, including most recently J. Danforth Quayle, have come from Indiana.
HISTORY
Archaeologists now recognize Indian village sites and constructions in Indiana as evidence of habitation by ancient Mound Builders. Mounds State Park in Madison Country preserves some remnants of their past. Most spectacular of the archaeological finds is the Angel Mound site near Evansville. At least seven mounds have been identified within the Ohio River floodplain. The largest "beehive" has provided more than a million cataloged artifacts since its discovery in 1939. Centuries of habitation by the Miami, Potawatomi, Delaware, and Kickapoo Indian tribes made little change in the natural environment of Indiana.
The first European exploration of present-day Indiana was in 1679 by Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, who attempted to establish French military domination over the Mississippi region. French Jesuit priests founded the first permanent European settlement, Vincennes, in 1725. The French traders bargained for furs, and the Jesuits pursued their missionary work.
Even as late as 1800 most of what is now Indiana was recognized as Indian territory. The arrival of the colonists brought on a period of violence between the settlers and the Indian inhabitatns. Friendly secessions from white occupied areas began in the late 1700s. The best known of the Indian land transfers was the New Purchase of 1818 that opened the bulk of Indiana to the whites.
Before statehood Indiana had several administrative centers. Vincennes became a French fort in 1734, about 50 years after colonial trading began. The British controlled Vincennes from 1763 until 1779, when George Rogers Clark, financially aided by Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia, seized the fort for the Americans.
In 1784, Virginia relinquished its claim to the Northwest Territory. Indiana Territory was created in 1800 and included what was to become the states of Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, along with parts of Michigan and Minnesota. Indiana's boundaries have changed little since it became a state.
The Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811 effectively broke the power of Indian tribes in the territory, Indiana was admitted to the Union in 1816, the second state formed from the Northwest Territory. Corydon, the first state capital, was superseded in 1825 by Indianapolis, which had been designed as the seat of state government. Communities began to form in the territory as statehood approached. New Harmony along the Wabash was the site chosen for George Rapp's Harmony Society and by Robert Owen for his cultural and scientific commune.
Indiana's first railroad was begun in 1834, connecting Indianapolis to the Ohio at Madison, the state's largest city in 1847. The rail line fostered economic growth and provided access to European markets for Indianapolis through the Mississippi River system. The National Road gave rise to numerous highway junctions that became thriving communities.
Canal and railroad construction left a permanent mark on state government. By publicly funding these projects, the state approached bankruptcy. State indebtedness was forbidden by the 1851 constitution. All governmental agencies are required to have balanced budgets at the end of each fiscal year.
One Confederate raid in 1863, led by General John Hunt Morgan, was the only significant incident to take place in Indiana during the Civil War. The state backed the Union efforts despite the Southern origins of many residents. Abraham Lincoln had spent his boyhood in Spencer County, Ind., and many Hoosiers considered him a native son worthy of support.
Farming, mining, and forestry developed after the Civil War. One of the oldest industries in the state produced sandstone grinding wheels and honing stones. European immigrants to Indiana provided skills that diversified the industry of the state; glassmaking, furniture manufacturing, and brick and tile making. Laborers from the industrial centers of Europe settled in the Calumet region, lured there by employment opportunities in the steel mills and foundries.
Today, Indiana maintains a diverse economy. Although farming is declining in importance relative to manufacturing and service industries, it remains a significant sector of the economic life of the state. The state's inland location makes adequate transportation critical. Despite protests by environmentalists, Burns Harbor--the Port of Indiana--was constructed on Lake Michigan to serve oceangoing vessels, thus underscoring the priority status given to commerce in the Indiana economy.
Benjamin Moulton
Bibliography: Barnhart, John D., and Riker, Dorothy, Indiana to 1816 (1971); Dreiser, Theodore, A Hoosier Holiday (1916; repr. 1974); Federal Writers' Project, Indiana: A Guide to the Hoosier State (1941); Havighurst, Walter, The Heartland (1962); Hojnacki, W. P., Politics and Public Policy in Indiana (1983); Kellar, J. H., An Introduction to the Prehistory of Indiana (1983); Kessler, James B., ed., Empirical Studies of Indiana Politics (1970); Madison, James H., The Indiana Way (1986); Philips, Clifton J., Indiana in Transition: The Emergence of an Industrial Commonwealth, 1880-1920 (1968); Taylor, R. M., Jr., et al., Indiana: A New Historical Guide (1989); Thornbrough, Emma L., Indiana in the Civil War Era, 1850-1880 (1965); VanderMeer, Philip R., The Hoosier Politician (1985).
(c) 1996 Grolier, Inc.