November 18, 1883 – American and Canadian Railroads Created Continental Time Zones

The power of the railroads extended beyond moving passengers and freight in the 1800s. These organizations created continental time zones to eliminate confusion in 1883. Prior to the use of time zones, railroad timetables listed dozens of arrival and departure times for each train, making scheduling a challenge.

What is a Time Zone?

Time zones allow clock time to correspond with the Earth's rotation. They are used so that a place can consider "noon" the time when the sun is highest in the sky. Nearby cities can keep the same time and time can easily be converted to understand what time it is in another zone.

Time Zone History

The first time zone was established by the railroad companies of Great Britain. It was known as "Railway Time" and was created in 1847. Traveling over greater distances (made easier by railroads) meant that it was more challenging to keep time between cities. In the past, travelers changed their watches between cities; time zones meant they only had to change when entering a new region.

The U.S. and Canada were divided into four time zones in 1883; Congress officially adopted them in 1918. These zones were adopted from Sir Sanford Fleming's recommendation to divide the world into 24 time zones that were 15 degrees of longitude apart.

Today, most countries utilize a variation of these time zones that put them within half an hour of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in Greenwich. The largest difference is China - it geographically spans five time zones but uses a single time of eight hours ahead of UTC. There are nine time zones in the U.S.

Resources:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/railroads-create-the-first-time-zones

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

http://geography.about.com/od/physicalgeography/a/timezones.htm

http://www.officeclocks.com/pics/DW_CusTimeZ_Displ_Thumb.jpg [image]