The start of Spring typically ushers in with shovels in the ground, flowers, birds, warmer temps and the changing of the clock, except for those in Arizona. Do you ever find yourself wondering, why we change the clocks or how it started? Furthermore, did you know that Daylight Savings Time (DST) has a Pittsburgh connection?

Some fun facts

• It is about 100 years old, even though the idea was around long before
• Benjamin Franklin joked in an essay that Parisians could economize candle usage by getting people out of bed earlier
• Germany was first country to implement DST on April 30, 1916 to save fuel during World War I
• Originally called “fast time “ in the US and introduced in 1918 (and repealed 7 months later)
• Idea was sparked by Robert Garland in the US after he was exposed to it in the United Kingdom
• Garland (who some call the “father of Daylight Saving”) was a Pittsburgh industrialist
• Some cities continued to use it after the repeal including Pittsburgh, Boston and New York
• President Franklin Roosevelt instituted year-round DST in 1942 in the US

Want to know more?

More about Robert Garland

More about the History of Daylight Savings Time

More about the History of DST in the United States