Why was Hamilton County IN so staunchly Republican?

[Geoffrey Howe]

Fairly obvious why it was Republican, but why by such overwhelming margins - Bush '88 over 80%, Bob Dole 70% ? This is at the level of the most Republican parts of Orange County CA and I think exceeds a lot of Deep South suburbs.

[Bismarck]

It was wealthy and overwhelmingly white and Protestant. The majority of people are old stock British or German. It lacked any old center city (Noblesville was the largest historically but that was a courthouse town dominated by republicans). Had very little manufacturing so not much union or blue collar presence and no universities.

[Hope For A New Era]

Just thought I'd add the Missouri-Indiana political twinning element to this - the Missouri equivalent is St. Charles County.