Daylight Savings Time: Where Does It Come From?

~ Natalia Radcliffe ~ 

Spring is fast approaching, and summer isn’t too far behind. With the warmer seasons come longer days, and you know what that means!

Daylight Savings Time. 

Most of us in the United States move our clocks ahead an hour the second Sunday of March. This results in the days seeming to be longer, as it doesn’t become dark until an hour later.  

But why is that? 

We were curious about this, so we looked into it. Turns out, its origins reside in energy conservation. The first idea was proposed all the way back in the late 1800s, when entomologist George Vernon Hudson proposed a 2 hour time shift to the Royal Society of New Zealand. Unfortunately for him, his proposal was unsuccessful. 

The first actual tests with Daylight Savings Time occurred during World War I. Many countries implemented a 1 hour clock shift in order to conserve electricity that was needed for the war effort. 

It only stuck around until World War I ended. The next time it was used was during World War II, when President Franklin Roosevelt implemented it back into use in 1942. 

After World War II ended, more people seemed to continue using it, although it was not very consistent across the whole of the United States. That all changed in 1966, when Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which normalized Daylight Savings Time across the country, and picked the times when it would start and end. Currently, it starts in March and ends in November. 

In fact, we may soon not have to worry about changing our clocks twice a year. There is a bill going through Congress right now, that, if passed, would make Daylight Savings Time permanent, erasing the need to change the time on our clocks.

What are you going to do with an extra hour of daylight? For us, we will be hard at work making Prospector Ranch the place to come for a vacation or for your creative needs. With warmer temperatures comes the perfect time to have an evening photoshoot here, or host a party, with our saloon as the perfect western backdrop. 

So many different possibilities. Come by and see for yourself!

Information obtained from: https://www.history.com/news/why-do-we-have-daylight-saving-time

Clock picture by SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS on Pexels.com

Thumbnail: Sunset background image by Ran Liron on Pexels.com