The History of Daylight Saving Time in the US

Posted by Miss Cellania in Everything Else on October 31, 2009 at 10:59 pm


Daylight Saving Time ends in most of the United States a 2AM on Sunday, November 1st (Hawaii and Arizona have been on standard time all summer). We remember which way to set our clocks by thinking “spring forward, fall back.” It makes you wonder how we ever got our clocks coordinated in the first place. Believe it or not, standard time and time zones were the railroad industry’s idea.

“In the early 19th century … localities set their own time,” said Bill Mosley, a public affairs officer at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

“It was kind of a crazy quilt of time, time zones, and time usage. When the railroads came in, that necessitated more standardization of time so that railroad schedules could be published.”

In 1883 the U.S. railroad industry established official time zones with a set standard time within each zone. Congress eventually came on board, signing the railroad time zone system into law in 1918.

The 1918 law assigned the Interstate Commerce Commission to oversee the time zones, and legislated Daylight Saving Time. Later, the decision whether to observe DST was left up to the states. Link


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15 comments to "The History of Daylight Saving Time in the US"

  1. Hal' O. Ween
    November 1st, 2009 at 12:18 am

    ...
    ....
    ..... ...
    ..... ....
    ..... .....

    Hey! Make sure that we 'a wekie!

    No, really.

    Was that yesteryear... Or naught?!?

    ;P

  2. cmhcoop
    November 1st, 2009 at 6:23 am

    It was actually the Canadian Railroad.
    http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=ArchivedFeatures &Params=A231

  3. Big A
    November 1st, 2009 at 7:01 am

    This sounds more like the history of time zones, not daylight savings.

  4. Miss Cellania
    November 1st, 2009 at 7:13 am

    Big A, there's a lot more at the linked article.

  5. clinton robert labombard
    November 1st, 2009 at 9:10 am

    Remove DST. It doesn't save time, it doesn't save daylight, and a day is /still/ 24 hours, 0-hours is /still/ based on the same reference point :non negotiable. DST is really dumb.

  6. cathy
    November 1st, 2009 at 12:24 pm

    "Oh, but I like the extra hour of daylight." Stupid on a cosmic scale. I think George Bush may have said it when he extended DST.

  7. tipple
    November 1st, 2009 at 1:44 pm

    My home city of Bristol, England has a clock with GMT & local time minute hands on it. Still working today too!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_time

  8. Seanette
    November 1st, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    Cue my semi-annual "standard, daylight, split the difference, pick something else, I really don't care, just pick something and STICK WITH IT!!!!" rant. I just don't see enough benefit to DST to be worth all the hassle of changing clocks around, scheduling problems, etc.

  9. Ant Dude
    November 1st, 2009 at 5:30 pm

    Stick with DST and stop changing! :P

  10. foobar
    November 1st, 2009 at 6:21 pm

    Did you really just claim time zones are an American invention? Hahaha, oh wow.

  11. dooflotchie
    November 1st, 2009 at 7:08 pm

    Chalk up another vote for ditching the DST. The days get longer or shorter as they will no matter what our clocks say and having one less annoyance to deal with is fine by me!

  12. Katey
    November 2nd, 2009 at 12:18 am

    Obama was supposed to can DST- probably because he's recently had little kids and can understand how messed up people who live by the sun, not the clock, get by these things! It's a damn shame the tanked economy and foreign relations have gotten in the way of his following through with that initiative!

  13. clinton robert labombard
    November 2nd, 2009 at 1:02 pm

    It's really 'funny' when your employer doesn't pay you for that extra hour DST caused to disappear.

  14. christine
    November 2nd, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    People who don't have to get up in the morning love DST. I much prefer standard time. I am so glad DST ended this weekend!!!!

  15. Gail Pink
    November 2nd, 2009 at 2:22 pm

    THANK YOU JESUS FOR STANDARD TIME!


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