I never questioned or felt any curiosity about the United States being divided into four time zones. Then, I looked at a map showing the lines of division and saw how uneven and strange they appeared. I had to learn more. First, the time zones were created with the emergence of rail travel. In the mid 1800’s, railroad ticket salesmen were going “bananas” trying to schedule departure and arrival times. In every state, there were local times used in different areas. Most often these were sun times. In Indiana there were twenty-three local times being used. Michigan and Illinois each had 27 local times, not synchronized. Thirty-eight local times were used in Wisconsin. All in all, there were 300 different time zones. You can imagine how difficult it must have been for ticket salesmen. Even a half-hour difference in time could mean a train leaving without you on board. Dr. Charles Dowd, a teacher/principal and Yale University graduate, had a solution. He had an idea to divide the United States into time zones so that everyone could set their clocks and watches to the same time in that particular zone. Dowd talked with railroad officials and presented them with a pamphlet he had developed explaining the system. The officials were definitely interested in his idea, being stymied and overwhelmed by the ticket sales confusion. Dr. Charles Ferdinand Dowd Yale Alumni Magazine Four time zones were accepted with the width of each zone being equal to the distance the sun appeared to travel in one hour. Using longitude measurements, each time zone was fixed to cover 15 degrees. It was decided by railroad officials that November 18, 1883 was the day to reset clocks and watches to the time zone where you lived. There was some grumbling but everyone adapted to the system of the railways, but it wasn’t until 35 years later, on March 19, 1918, that Congress passed the Standard Time Act. The zone system had some kinks. There were towns and even houses which were split by the longitudinal line. Imagine! “Dear, we are going out tonight at seven. Which side of the house are you in?” Also, some states were chopped into two time zones to which they objected. New boundaries were designated. That information solved my initial inquisitive wonderment about the uneven and strange boundaries of time zones. National atlas.gov After the railroads instigated the time zones in the United States, a year later, in 1884, an International Time Conference was held in Washington D.C. Twenty-four nations sent delegates. A twenty-four zone system was set for planet Earth. But there was a problem. At the International Time Conference the delegates discovered that counting through all the time zones, the days became oddly off track. It could be Wednesday in Pennsylvania and Thursday in Illinois. To solve the problem, they set up the International Date Line. It was set in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It zigs and zags through the Bering Straits and other places, but remains in the ocean. When a traveler is going West and he passes over the International Date Line, the calendar moves ahead one day. If you pass the Date Line going East, you lose one calendar day. This Date Line goes from the North to the South pole and marks the delineation between the Western and Eastern hemispheres. Dateline Map Maps of the world.com Who would have thought that the railroad system was responsible for time zones? Just goes to show us that out of need comes necessity. Setting time is mainly a human invention, but how would we live without our watches and smart phones, especially if we are trying to catch a train! Even the Bible illustrates the importance of time in many verses. I love Ecclesiastics 3: 1 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven;…” [email protected] ©Ann Rains April, 2021
6 Comments
Carolyn Kreighbaum
4/23/2021 07:37:34 pm
Such great information. Thank you for writing about the time zones.
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dan
4/25/2021 11:48:14 am
A wonderful article, Ann. I have always wondered, but too preoccupied to research it, myself. What would we do without you?
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Karen B
5/3/2021 09:17:31 am
Very interesting! so enjoyed this.
Reply
Hi Karen,
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