Historical Perspectives: Bringing Method To Madness: PBS Explores The Way Timekeeping Impacted Modern Civilization

October 10, 2014

Think about this for a moment: before the 1880's, there were hundreds of time zones within the United States, with towns all across the country adhering to their own standard of "local time." This confusing system was a relic of an America before efficient transportation networks, when there wasn't much need for a centrally regulated, uniform system. The advancement of the railroad system in the late 1800's necessitated a change to a more standard system, and this short excerpt from the upcoming PBS series "How We Got to Now" demonstrates just how confusing things were before then C and how essential timekeeping is to keep modern society up and running.