The History of Time in the United States

There was a time in the United States when knowing what time it is, was very confusing.

Time in 19th Century United States

Before 1883, there was no standardized way to tell time in the United States. Local areas all had their own time and there were no time zones yet. Each town used some form of local solar time and each town had a clock tower or clock and watches in the jeweler’s window.

By 1884 it was obvious the world needed a more logical way of knowing what time it is. A meeting of 25 nations decided to divide the planet into 24 zones separated by 15 degrees longitude. The starting point was to be the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England and each zone would be plus or minus Greenwich, which is called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). GMT is what time it is in Greenwich, England.

The world was a much smaller place in the 19th century, so knowing what time it was in Greenwich, England wasn’t very important to someone in the middle of Nebraska.

During the 19th century, time was very important to the railroads. A train had to leave an exact amount of minutes after the previous train to prevent accidents. But knowing exactly what time it was, was still a problem. It could be 9:20 in Detroit and maybe 9:24 in the next town.

The importance of a standardized time became clear in 1853, when in New England there was a terrible train crash. Two trains collided killing 14 people. This happened because two train engineers had two different times on their watches. Timing was everything to the running and safety of the railroads. Yet opposition to a standardized time was strong. Many towns didn’t want to have to live their lives according to railroad time.

Before 1883, each town had its own time depending on the sun, people used the sun to tell them when to get up, when it was high noon and when to go to bed. Hunger pains let them know when it was time to eat and astronomical tables invented by a former slave, Benjamin Banneker, who used his knowledge of math and astronomy to project sunrise, sunset and other celestial times. By the 1880s, the American Watch Company was starting to mass produce watches.

In 1881, there were approximately 50 different regional times in the US. The railroads asked William Frederick to come up with a plan to have a standard time in the United States.

At high noon on November 18, 1883, the railroads adopted the Standard Railway Time in the United States and Canada, but it would be many years later before most people and towns would use it. In 1900, Detroit still used their localized time which was 28 minutes ahead of the central standardized time. It wasn’t until 1905 when Detroit finally joined in with the Central Standard Time zone.

1892 Burlington Railroad map with new time zones

Time in 20th Century United States

The railroads finally had their standard time and most of the United States went along with it, but it wasn’t until March 19, 1918 when the Standard Time Act became law and the US had four standard time zones

Also in 1918, daylight savings time was created, but repealed in 1919 after World War I ended. The matter of moving clocks ahead during the summer would be a local issue. So standardized times still remained confusing during the summer.

War Time

During World War II the United States went on what was called War Time. This was the equivalent of year long Daylight Savings Time. On February 9, 1942, the US Congress passed the War Time Act. It was thought that year long daylight savings would save energy and resources that were needed for the war. All times zones in the United States used war time. When you read stories from World War II newspapers, you will see the use of war time. For example you might see a story that includes EWT or Eastern War Time or MWT for Mountain War Time.

1945 newspaper story with Eastern War Time

Photo courtesy bluejeansplace.com © 2001-2010 All Rights Reserved Patrick D Shediack

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is

The War Time Act ended after the war on September 25, 1945 and the United States went back to standard time. But, the decision whether or not to have daylight savings time during the summer was left up to local cities or states. Some states did use daylight time and others did not. This once again left the United States having a mix of different times in different places every summer.

Knowing what time it was in another city or state was a problem during the summer and it was not unusual to have to set your watch numerous times on a car trip of just 35 miles. Not only could local regions and states use or not use Daylight Savings Time, but the start and end periods for Daylight Savings Time was also up to the local areas.

Finally fed up with all of the confusion, the transportation industry lobbied congress to do something about the mixed up summer times. The final decision came when the congressional committee found out that on a 35-mile stretch between W.V. and Ohio, bus travelers went through 7 different time changes.

In 1966 congress passed the Uniform Time Act creating a unified Daylight Savings Time and a unified start and end for it. The law did provide for any state that wanted to exempt itself from Daylight Savings could do so. Today, Hawaii and Arizona, except for the Navajo Nation, do not observe Daylight Savings. And to this day I can never remember what time of year Arizona is on Pacific or Mountain Time.

Oil Shortage Time

In 1974, during the oil embargo energy crises, President Nixon signed into law the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act, a long title which meant Daylight Savings Time was to start on January 6, 1974 until October 1974. I do remember this and it was strange to see the sun rise so late in the morning. In places like Minneapolis and Billings, the sun didn’t rise until 9 AM that January.

Time for the Conclusion

After a century of tinkering with time, there is now a uniform time in the United States today, unless you need to know what time it is in Arizona.

© June 2010 Sam Montana

Resources

Main article photo by Michal Osmenda

www.webexhibits.com, US Navy