# Anyone live on/near a time zone demarcation? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 2, 2021, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350 "2021-12-02T06:19:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/21 "2021-12-02T23:21:13Z")
To the best of my knowledge, Indiana now has just three “time zones.” Northwest and Southwest Indiana are in the Central Time Zone, while the rest of the state is in the Eastern Time Zone. All of Indiana observes Daylight Saving Time. But that’s not the way it used to be. Indiana had five separate “pods” of time zones from about 1967-77. Most of Indiana was in the Eastern Time Zone, and did not observe Daylight Saving Time. Some counties in northwest Indiana were in the Central Time Zone and observed DST Likewise, some counties in southwest Indiana were in Central Time and observed DST Four counties across the river from Louisville were on Eastern Time but DID observe DST. Three counties near Cincinnati also were on Eastern time and DST If you want to be really picky, one lonely county along the Ohio River between Louisville and Cincinnati was on Eastern Time but did NOT observe DST. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/22 "2021-12-03T03:33:34Z")
There are only two times zones in Indiana, Eastern for most of it (80 counties), and Central for 12 counties. They all observe DST. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/23 "2021-12-03T04:13:42Z")
My wife just got back from a work trip to west Texas. Where she was staying was in the mountain time portion if the state. The only hotel in the town of 700 didn’t have alarm clocks in the room so she used her cell phone. Her cell phone was apparently latched on to a tower in the central time portion of the state and so the first day she showed up an hour early for work. After that she adjusted her alarms to be an hour later since there were no cell towers her phone could grab that would give her the right time. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/24 "2021-12-03T05:27:49Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I live in Indiana. We have five - FIVE! - different time zone areas. Back in the 70s, I went to college just over the border from both Eastern Standard Time Indiana and Eastern Daylight Savings Time Indiana… AND we were just as close to Central Standard Time Indiana. There was a practical feature here. We’d turn on an Indiana TV station in the student union, watch Star Trek … then change to a Indiana station closer to Chicago and watch it again! We could also get a Michigan station and at night, Chicago, too. Luckily, I didn’t try to figure it all out, or I wouldn’t have had enough brain cells left to devote to my classes. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/25 "2021-12-03T16:19:34Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I live in the far western part of the Eastern Time Zone… it’s just great to benefit from extra useful daylight late in the day, Yeah, but you pay for it with dark mornings. Sunrise this morning in Thunder Bay, ON, was not until 8:30 EST. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/26 "2021-12-03T17:39:27Z")
Before the development of rail travel in the UK in the 19th century, Every town had its own time zone. Of course, it didn’t matter much since only the wealthy had watches and few people ravelled far, and that only slowly. > ## “Railway Time” > > With the introduction of the railway, travel became faster. With every station keeping its own local mean time, the need for a synchronized time arose. > > The first railway company to implement a common time for all stations, appropriately named “Railway Time,” was the Great Western Railway in November 1840. By 1847, most railways were using “London Time,” the time set at the Royal Observatory in [Greenwich](https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/uk/greenwich-city). > > In 1847, the Railway Clearing House, an industry standards body, recommended that [Greenwich Mean Time](https://www.timeanddate.com/time/gmt-utc-time.html) (GMT) be adopted at all stations as soon as the General Post Office permitted it. On December 1, 1847, the London and North Western Railway, as well as the Caledonian Railway, adopted “London Time,” and by 1848 most railways had followed. > **[UK Time Zone History](https://www.timeanddate.com/time/uk/time-zone-background.html)** ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/27 "2021-12-03T18:38:46Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > …There’s a portion of the state that follows St. Louis, down near that metro area… Being an Illinoisan, I never really thought ANY part of IN was all that close to St L. > [@bob\_2](#): > > Before the development of rail travel in the UK in the 19th century, Every town had its own time zone. … In Chicago, IIRC on the NE corner of LaSalle and Jackson, there is a plaque on the old Continental Bank Building commemorating the adoption of standard time zones in the US, similarly, for railroad purposes. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/28 "2021-12-03T18:53:14Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Before the development of rail travel in the UK in the 19th century, Every town had its own time zone. Of course, it didn’t matter much since only the wealthy had watches and few people ravelled far, and that only slowly. The local time was often known by the clock tower that would chime on the hour. People with watches would synchronize with the tower bells. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/29 "2021-12-03T22:20:34Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Being an Illinoisan, I never really thought ANY part of IN was all that close to St L. You are correct, there is a chunk of Illinois in the way, but those counties in the “point” of Indiana are even further away from anything else. St. Louis is the nearest metro area, even if it’s not next door. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2021, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/30 "2021-12-03T23:09:48Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Arizona doesn’t observe DST, but the Navajo Nation does. The Hopi nation, which is completely surrounded by the Navajo Nation doesn’t observe DST, like the rest of Arizona. The two Nations share a border in Tuba City, which means that the time changes across the street. > [@DesertDog](#): > > Most of the state does not observe DST but the Navajo reservation in the north-east corner does. > > Except the Hopi reservation, surrounded by the Navajo nation, does. Was that a simulpost, or were they an hour apart? > [@DCnDC](#): > > My MIL lives in Indiana near Louisville and frequently complains that they should be on Central time. Of course if they were, sunset would be around 4:30P today. > [@Jackmannii](#): > > I live in the far western part of the Eastern Time Zone, about 90 miles from the border with Central Time. I live in the far eastern portion of the Eastern Time Zone, and sunset was at 4:12 today. There’s a local radio host who says that we should be on Daylight Savings Time all year. I maintain that he is wrong, and that we should be on Atlantic Standard Time all year. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2021, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/31 "2021-12-04T00:22:42Z")
I’m having trouble remember the specifics. I think Cd. Juárez used to be Central but didn’t have DST. Whatever it was, there was some partial mismatch with El Paso that caused me confusion a few times. Now I believe they’re both Mountain (or its equivalent in Mexico) _and_ observing DST but the dates are off by a week or so. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2021, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/32 "2021-12-04T01:06:27Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Time to end DST for all. That or put it on a permanent basis. There is no particular reason “noon” has to be when the sun is at its highest point. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2021, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/33 "2021-12-04T01:11:19Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Was that a simulpost, or were they an hour apart? We’ll never know. 🙂 Mine had a picture, though. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2021, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/34 "2021-12-04T01:49:55Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > You are correct, there is a chunk of Illinois in the way, but those counties in the “point” of Indiana are even further away from anything else. St. Louis is the nearest metro area, even if it’s not next door. Having lived in Evansville, the commercial and population hub of the Tri-State area, I can say with certainty that Indianapolis, Louisville, and even Nashville are closer than St. Louis. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2021, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/35 "2021-12-04T02:07:11Z")
St Louis 166 miles pop 2.3m Indianapolis 175 miles pop 2.1m Louisville 124 miles pop 1.3m Nashville 153 miles pop 1.6m These are driving distances and metro area populations. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2021, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/36 "2021-12-04T03:12:04Z")
Yeah - just eyeballing it on a map I thought Louisville looked at least as close. And only needed to cross one border. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2021, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/37 "2021-12-04T09:28:17Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > My MIL lives in Indiana near Louisville and frequently complains that they should be on Central time. Of course if they were, sunset would be around 4:30P today. I live in the far eastern portion of Central time. Sunset was 4:20 pm yesterday. I don’t see an issue here…? It’s not like I turn into a pumpkin at sundown, nor do we have a problem with vampire attacks at evening rush hour… ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2021, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/38 "2021-12-04T09:30:02Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Yeah - just eyeballing it on a map I thought Louisville looked at least as close. And only needed to cross one border. Huh. I’ve been misinformed for all these years, then. OK, why DOES Evansville run on Central time, then? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2021, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/39 "2021-12-04T15:42:30Z")
Because western Kentucky and southern Illinois run on Central time. Yeah, I know that’s about like saying, “Because I said so,” but if you consider southwest Indiana as a trade zone it makes more sense to run on the same time. Ditto with northwest Indiana and Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2021, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350/40 "2021-12-04T16:38:04Z")
Re. sunset time, I remember being in Michigan and a friend calling her family in Maine in the evening. She commented that being at opposite ends of the time zone meant that sunset came an hour earlier in Maine even though the 2 places are at the same latitude. Sunset today in Portland Maine is at 4:04 PM and at 5:08 PM in Grand Rapids Michigan. Sunset in Rochester NY is at 4:33, at the same latitude but in the middle of the time zone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-live-on-near-a-time-zone-demarcation/955350.md?page=3)