Indiana real estate, IN - America Real Estate Directory

Indiana Real Estate

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Indiana is located in the north central United States, in the Midwest. Manufacturing industries were already in operation on a small scale in Indiana by 1860, producing farm machinery and tools for the settlers, and processing pork for shipment originally down the Wabash and Ohio rivers and later by rail to the populous east. By the end of the 19th century agriculture had become more mechanized and productive, and manufacturing and mining had also become major sources of income for Indianans.

In the following decades, manufacturing in Indiana continued to expand in volume and diversity of output. Steel-making expanded rapidly in the first and second decades of the 20th century, particular in Gary and other centers in northwestern Indiana. Much of the state’s industrial expansion was subsequently tied to the growing automobile industry. The state now has a highly diversified industrial base, continuing in steel refining, tool-making, and metal working, but with increasing reliance on the manufacture of petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. A 2006 real estate survey has estimated the population of Indiana at 6,313,973.

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Boonville

Ruth Brinkley, ABR, CRS
ERA First Advantage Realty, Inc.
Phone: 812-455-8216

Web Site
I've been helping folks relocate from "here and yonder" since 1984. I love it! Call for our "stocked full" relo packet and a "home search" to fit your needs. Evansville, Newburgh, Rockport, Princeton, Boonville, and Mt. Vernon.

Carmel

Pat Haddad

Carmel Real Estate

Evansville click here

Fishers

Tom Endicott

Fishers Real Estate

Fort Wayne click here

Greenwood

James Linville

Greenwood Real Estate

Indianapolis click here

Jasper

Cynthia Lenn

E-mail: lennc@psci.net

Lafayette

Jeri Switzer

E-mail: Switzerj@aol.com

Web Site

Lake County

Cindy Ross

E-mail: rossc21@theptn.com

Web Site

Mt. Vernon

Ruth Brinkley, ABR, CRS
ERA First Advantage Realty, Inc.
Phone: 812-455-8216

I've been helping folks relocate from "here and yonder" since 1984. I love it! Call for our "stocked full" relo packet and a "home search" to fit your needs. Evansville, Newburgh, Rockport, Princeton, Boonville, and Mt. Vernon.

Newburgh click here

Princeton

Rockport

Santa Claus

Cynthia Lenn

E-mail: lennc@psci.net

Tell City

Cynthia Lenn

E-mail: lennc@psci.net

More about Indiana

Corn is the leading crop grown in Indiana. In 1997, two-fifths of all cropland was planted in corn. One-half of all crop income usually comes from the sale of corn, but even this underestimates the true importance of corn, since much of it is not sold, but is instead fed to livestock. Much of Indiana’s corn crop is fed to hogs on the farms where both are raised. The significance of soybeans has increased in recent years, approaching corn in terms of value and amount produced. Wheat and vegetables, especially tomatoes for processing, are also important crops. In addition, Indiana is noted as one of the few producers in the United States of spearmint and peppermint, grown mostly in the northwest. In 1997 Indiana ranked ninth in sales of all crops, but fourth in sales of soybeans and fifth in sales of corn.

Livestock raising is undertaken in Indiana mostly as a specialty operation, with hogs, cattle, poultry, and sheep raised on feedlots or in large buildings designed especially for ease of feeding and waste disposal. Until the 1960s, livestock were found on most farms in Indiana, but, except in the hillier areas of southern Indiana, the conversion to specialization is now almost complete. The majority of Indiana farmers no longer include animal raising within their farming system. As a result, the fences put up to control animal movement that formerly characterized all farming areas have now largely disappeared on farms devoted to cash crop farming. Farmers specializing in hogs, cattle, poultry, or sheep buy or grow corn and soybeans for feeding to their livestock. Animals are bred in Indiana for sale to local slaughterhouses. In addition, large numbers of beef cattle and calves, as well as some hogs and sheep, are shipped from states west of the Mississippi to Indiana, where they are fattened and “finished” for market. Dairy cattle are raised mainly in northwestern Indiana and in the vicinity of major urban centers.

By value, bituminous coal is the principal mineral produced in Indiana, which is the ninth leading coal-producing state in the Union. Other minerals produced include stone, cement, sand and gravel, crude petroleum, lime, and clays.

Most of the state’s coal comes from the great coalfield that underlies western and southwestern Indiana as well as much of adjacent Illinois. Most of Indiana’s annual coal production comes from strip-mining, in which coal lying near the surface can be easily excavated. The coal industry was heavily mechanized in the 1950s, resulting in the loss of many jobs. In 2000 some 25.1 million metric tons of coal were mined in Indiana. A problem with Indiana coal is its relatively high content of sulfur, a pollutant that goes into the air when burned. Almost all of the coal is sold to companies producing electricity from steam-driven turbines and generators, and these companies must meet federal air pollution control standards. As a result, and until a price-competitive process for “scrubbing” the coal, or cleaning it of sulfur, can be developed, the market for Indiana’s coal is likely to decline. Indiana’s second most important mineral product is stone. Indiana leads all other states in the production of dimensional stone and is one of the nation’s major producers of limestone. Most of this superb building material is quarried in the area between Bloomington and Bedford in southern Indiana. The bulk of the state’s annual output of limestone and dolomite is used as road fill or for making cement.

Indiana regularly ranks among the top ten states in annual industrial production, as measured by income contributed by industry. The manufacture of transportation equipment, particularly automobiles and automobile parts, was the leading industry in the state in 1996. The forging of primary metals, notably steel in blast furnaces, contributed substantially to the state’s economy. Other leading industries were the production of chemicals, particularly pharmaceuticals; the manufacture of industrial machinery, such as refrigeration units, engines, and metalworking machinery; the fabrication of basic metal components; the processing of food products, such as milled corn, packaged snacks, bottled soft drinks, and bread; the manufacture of electrical devices, such as small household appliances; and the fabrication of rubber and plastic products. Among the numerous other goods made in Indiana are furniture and fixtures, instruments, paper products, lumber and wood products, oil and coal products, clothing, leather products, and textiles. Printing and publishing is important, especially in Indianapolis and Hammond.

The state’s principal industrial area, the Calumet region, borders Lake Michigan and includes the cities of Gary, East Chicago, Hammond, and Whiting. As one of the leading U.S. centers of heavy industry the Calumet region specializes in oil refining and in the manufacture of steel and other primary metals, coke, chemicals, tar, plastics, and cement. The excellent transportation facilities that serve the heavy industries of the Calumet link it with the major industrial and urban markets of the Midwest. They also link it with sources of raw materials, such as the coalfields of Pennsylvania and West Virginia (a source of coking coal for steel furnaces) and the iron mines of Minnesota, Michigan, and Canada.

A second important industrial area is in central Indiana, encompassing the cities of Lafayette, Kokomo, Muncie, Marion, Anderson, Elwood, and New Castle, and extending into Indianapolis. The wide range of goods made in this area includes parts and accessories for motor vehicles, electrical equipment, including electronic components, household goods, and industrial equipment.

Among the other industrial centers of northern Indiana are Fort Wayne, where machinery is manufactured, and the South Bend area, which specializes in transportation equipment. Elkhart is noted for its production of musical instruments and mobile homes. A variety of other goods are manufactured in Valparaiso, Michigan City, La Porte, Hobart, and Goshen. Indianapolis, the chief industrial area in central Indiana, is a center for the manufacture of trucks, automobile parts, and aircraft engines. Chemicals, electrical equipment, and machinery are also produced in Indianapolis. In addition, flour-milling, meat-packing, vegetable processing, and printing are carried on there. Terre Haute, on the Wabash River, is a center for metal fabricating and the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, plastics, and food products.

The chief industrial centers in southern Indiana lie in the Ohio and lower Wabash river valleys. New Albany, on the Ohio River opposite Louisville, Kentucky, is a major plywood manufacturing center, and Jeffersonville, also on the Ohio, is a center for the manufacture of soap and chemicals. There are a growing variety of industries, including manufacturing of aluminum, pharmaceuticals, food products, and automobiles in or near Evansville, in the southwest corner of the state.

Virtually all the electricity generated in Indiana in the late 1990s came from steam-driven power plants fueled by coal. Although western Indiana has an abundance of coal, its high sulfur content has encouraged some utilities to bring in coal from Wyoming. Most of the plants are operated by privately owned utilities. In 1984 the construction of two nuclear power plants was abandoned because of escalating costs. Most steam driven power plants are located along the Wabash and Ohio Rivers.

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Real Estate: Indiana Relocation