Pittsburgh: the Home of Daylight Saving Time

For sports fans, "Pittsburgh" is shorthand for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the football team. The name of the team pays tribute to steel manufacturing, Pittsburgh's major industry for many years. In fact, Pittsburgh steel was used to build the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building and countless other structures.

Pittsburgh is less well known as the home of Daylight Saving Time (DST). Robert Garland, an Irish immigrant, Pittsburgh factory owner and city councilman, proposed the idea in 1917. He was passionate about regulating time so that it better suited the needs of factory owners and workers. Contrary to what many believe, farmers have always opposed DST. The schedules of cows, crops and farm families are dictated by the sun, not a government regulation.

Wartime Success, Peacetime Failure

During World War 1 and World War II, Garland convinced Presidents Wilson and Roosevelt that DST would save fuel and electricity, precious wartime resources, and allow people more time to enjoy summer evenings. Garland must have been bitterly disappointed when, in each case, DST was repealed by the federal government within a fairly short time.

After the second federal DST regulation was repealed in 1945, states and even many counties were allowed to follow whatever time standard they chose. The result was a confusing mishmash of time zones. As an illustration, for a while the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul followed different time clocks.

Passage of Federal DST Law in 1966

Whether you love or hate Daylight Saving Time, there's one overriding fact. DST doesn't work unless everyone in the area adopts it. The confusion over who followed DST and who didn't became such a problem, especially for the transportation industry, that the Uniform Time Act was passed in 1966. However, states were allowed to exempt themselves.

During the 1973 oil embargo, the U.S. tried year-long DST to save fuel. In a little over a year, complaints (especially about children leaving for school in the dark) caused a return to the traditional "spring ahead, fall back" schedule. The observance dates of DST have been extended twice.

In 2018, DST begins on March 11 and ends on November 4.

National and Worldwide Observance of DST Still Not Uniform

In the U.S., all states and territories observe DST except Arizona (except for the Navajo nation), Hawaii and America's overseas territories including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Worldwide, North America, Europe and some Middle Eastern countries use DST, while, with a few exceptions, the rest of the world does not. Overall, Pittsburgh's Robert Garland would undoubtedly be pleased that so many millions of people set their clocks by Daylight Saving Time.