<P> Charles F. Dowd proposed a system of one - hour standard time zones for American railroads about 1863 , although he published nothing on the matter at that time and did not consult railroad officials until 1869 . In 1870 he proposed four ideal time zones ( having north -- south borders ) , the first centered on Washington , D.C. , but by 1872 the first was centered on the meridian 75 ° W of Greenwich , with geographic borders ( for example , sections of the Appalachian Mountains ) . Dowd 's system was never accepted by American railroads . Instead , U.S. and Canadian railroads implemented a version proposed by William F. Allen , the editor of the Traveler 's Official Railway Guide . The borders of its time zones ran through railroad stations , often in major cities . For example , the border between its Eastern and Central time zones ran through Detroit , Buffalo , Pittsburgh , Atlanta , and Charleston . It was inaugurated on Sunday , November 18 , 1883 , also called `` The Day of Two Noons '' , when each railroad station clock was reset as standard - time noon was reached within each time zone . The zones were named Intercolonial , Eastern , Central , Mountain , and Pacific . Within a year 85 % of all cities with populations over 10,000 , about 200 cities , were using standard time . A notable exception was Detroit ( which is about halfway between the meridians of eastern time and central time ) which kept local time until 1900 , then tried Central Standard Time , local mean time , and Eastern Standard Time before a May 1915 ordinance settled on EST and was ratified by popular vote in August 1916 . The confusion of times came to an end when Standard zone time was formally adopted by the U.S. Congress in the Standard Time Act of March 19 , 1918 . </P>
<P> Charles F. Dowd proposed a system of one - hour standard time zones for American railroads about 1863 , although he published nothing on the matter at that time and did not consult railroad officials until 1869 . In 1870 he proposed four ideal time zones ( having north -- south borders ) , the first centered on Washington , D.C. , but by 1872 the first was centered on the meridian 75 ° W of Greenwich , with geographic borders ( for example , sections of the Appalachian Mountains ) . Dowd 's system was never accepted by American railroads . Instead , U.S. and Canadian railroads implemented a version proposed by William F. Allen , the editor of the Traveler 's Official Railway Guide . The borders of its time zones ran through railroad stations , often in major cities . For example , the border between its Eastern and Central time zones ran through Detroit , Buffalo , Pittsburgh , Atlanta , and Charleston . It was inaugurated on Sunday , November 18 , 1883 , also called `` The Day of Two Noons '' , when each railroad station clock was reset as standard - time noon was reached within each time zone . The zones were named Intercolonial , Eastern , Central , Mountain , and Pacific . Within a year 85 % of all cities with populations over 10,000 , about 200 cities , were using standard time . A notable exception was Detroit ( which is about halfway between the meridians of eastern time and central time ) which kept local time until 1900 , then tried Central Standard Time , local mean time , and Eastern Standard Time before a May 1915 ordinance settled on EST and was ratified by popular vote in August 1916 . The confusion of times came to an end when Standard zone time was formally adopted by the U.S. Congress in the Standard Time Act of March 19 , 1918 . </P>
who came up with the idea of timezones
who came up with the idea of timezones
Charles F. Dowd
Charles F. Dowd