History Tuesday: I know, I'm late, but for good reason! We were celebrating my hubby's work accomplishments last night and dinner ran LATE! So, here's a few fun facts about daylight saving time: 🕰 It's singular, not plural like many people think (saving not savings) 🕰 An Englishman named William Willett was the first to introduce the idea in 1905, wanting to save on electricity in the summer 🕰 The first country to adopt the idea was Germany, during WWI and after Willett had passed 🕰 It was first called "summer time" 🕰 Daylight saving came to America in 1918 as a wartime effort to conserve electricity 🕰 Farmers never embraced the idea and, in fact, fought against it because it disrupted their schedules that ran by the sun 🕰 Daylight saving was repealed in 1919 and returned for WWII 🕰 From 1919-1966, cities, counties and states could decide if and when they participated. There was such chaos that in just Iowa there were 23 different times to keep track of! 🕰 In 1966, the Uniform Time Act was passed to regulate Daylight Saving time. 🕰 Hawaii, Arizona, and other American territories do not participate 🕰 Daylight saving does not actually conserve energy due to rising air conditioning use 🕰 Looking at the map above, if we got rid of Daylight Saving time, we would still enjoy plenty of sunshine! Interesting, right? And I know we, like most parents with little ones, hate the time change! My kiddos are still a wreck
Rachel Bartels
Author