Does Anybody Really Care... About Time?"
Thank you Chicago Transit Authority for raising that pithy question in 1970.
It was only a few years earlier, in 1966, that Daylight Savings Time became a permanent fixture in the time-keeping paradigm in the United States.
And only in 1883 did time become standardized, and Time Zones created.
Coincidental to the CTA classic rock hit, it was the railroads who made that happen. Superior Time Management, I would say.
Prior to 1883, every village and hamlet and city had their own time of day. It may have been Noon in Raleigh, NC, and 11:55 in Cary, and 11:50 in Apex. See, time only mattered within the local jurisdiction.
I live in Cary, NC. Why would I care what time the folks in Asheville thought it was? That was their business, and none of my own.
But, then the railroads built their lines across the country. Folks traveled by rail, and had to be able to count on some sort of timetable, some reliable means to know when the trains would arrive and depart. Order and timeliness were the necessities made necessary.
And, so here we are today. With standardized time across the continent. With cell phones, TV Cable boxes, and computers that will all voluntarily Spring Forward and reset their indicated time automatically, whilst we sleep.
Thanks for some help from Wikipedia with the History of Time in the United States.
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