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A Brief History of Daylight Savings Time
In a few weeks, on March 14th, most of us will “Spring Forward” and adjust our clocks ahead an hour. We will do this because twice a year, most of the United States and many European countries adjust their clocks forward one hour in the Spring and backwards one hour in the Fall. This odd concept was originated by Benjamin Franklin in 1784 (to save on candles1) and adopted since World Work I for seven months in 1918 and 1919, as a fuel conservation measure.2 Daylight Savings Time (DST) was in force all year in the U.S. Between February 2, 1942 through September 30, 1945 and called “War Time.”
The whole concept of “time zones” were originated by railroads in 1883 to help standardize their schedules. Before this, every major city or region had their own time that was based on local astronomy. In 1918, the U.S. Rail zones were made official.
Amazingly, there were no DST laws from 1945 to 1966. During this time, states and localities independently decided whether or not to implement DST.3 In 1966, the U.S. Congress enacted the Uniform Time Act and standardized the DST implementation. To opt out, only a local ordinance is needed, but most of the U.S. observes DST.
In later articles, we will explore the benefits and costs of DST; as well as who does and who does not observe this semi-annual ritual.
2 National Sleep Awareness Week – Daylight Savings Time http://www.aarc.org/headlines/08/02/nsaw/daylight_savings_time.ppt 3 Saving Time, Saving Energy - History of Daylight Saving Time http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/boundaries/a_savingtime.html#three Share this:            |