How do you know what time it is? You probably glance at your smartphone. But how does your iPhone or Android know exactly what time it is? It connects automatically with the atomic clock at the United States Naval Observatory. That clock establishes the official US time. It is so precise that it changes less than one-tenth of a nanosecond per day. So when the ball drops at precisely midnight on New Year’s Eve in Times Square, we assume that it is also precisely midnight everywhere in the Eastern USA. This certainty allows us to catch flights, record TV shows, and plan our days. However, it was not until The Day With Two Noons that time zones were standardized. Before November 18, 1883, when it was noon in Chicago, it was not noon in Minneapolis!
Until the 1870s, local communities established their own time zones. This was called “Local Mean Time.” Illinois had 27 different time zones! Since noon was determined by the time the sun passed overhead, noon in Deerfield was different by a few minutes from noon in Naperville!
How The Railroads Changed Time
The advent of the railroads – some of which could move as fast as one mile a minute, made the use of Local Mean Time impracticable. If you needed to catch a train at noon in Washington DC, it was 12;12 in New York City! In 1883, the railroads decided to standardize time zones once and for all. They did so without an act of Congress or approval of the President.
In response to massive confusion brought about by local time zones, the railroad men decided to take action. This led to the Day With Two Noons!
The representatives of the major railroads met at the glorious Grand Pacific Hotel in Chicago. This building is now The Central Standard Building, formerly the Continental Illinois Bank Building at 231 S. Lasalle in Chicago. They 
agreed to create a coordinated system of standard time zones. Thus, noon in Chicago would also be noon in St. Louis. They had previously been 12 minutes different! The edict they passed became the basis of standardized time zones throughout the USA.
The Day WIth Two Noons was set as being Sunday, November 18, 1883.
On that day, people across America reset their watches and clocks according to the new “railroad time.” Surprisingly, it caused very few issues. However, 
many communities celebrated noon twice! First, they recognized their local noon, based on the sun. Then they reset their watches to the formal noon, established by the railroads.
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), having already been established in Britain became the benchmark. Within a decade, most of the world had set time zones that are still generally in place.
THE DAY WITH TWO NOONS
“The Day With Two Noons” became a historical footnote, but its underlying significance is essential. The needs of national commerce had changed local customs into a sweeping system that altered the world forever.
Very interesting,as usual.I never knewabout the 2 noons.
Horace,
Iâm glad you enjoyed the article. Itâs one of those âlittle storiesâ that actually are quite large in impact!
Barry
I would like to go back *as close* as possible to local noon – if people could learn to better use the given daylight in a 24hr period.
Daylight Saving Time(DST) is obsolete. Machines do not care what time the sun rises or sets. It’s time to abolish bi-annual clock changes. Besides, something many are misled about regarding DST: that it “saves energy”. Actually, it achieves the exact OPPOSITE, which if you own a utility, is great news.
I, for one, awaken just after 6am year-round, even on my days off, and am in bed between 9-10pm. So DST is wasted on me! I would love to experience the sun rising around 4:30am in June here in Connecticut, as it did a century ago, when standard time was the rule, except in war time.
Very interesting,!
Myra,
It must have been a confusing day!
Barry
Two Noons is a wonderful story. I can’t imagine what travel must have been like then. Folks in the transportation industry must have been going nuts. Leave to a fabulous historian and story teller llike Barry Bradford to inform us all while also entertaining us. Thanks Barry for another terrific history lesson.
Dr. Bob,
I was trying to think of a contemporary parallel. Then I remembered that Amtrak has to deal with something similar once a year!
“When Daylight Savings Time ends in the United States every November 1st at 2 a.m., Amtrak has to have a solution for the sudden loss of an hour. Its solution is simpleâtrains operating when the transition occurs simply sit idle for up to an hour until time catches up to the schedule.
When Daylight Savings Time starts again, trains just become one hour late.”
Click here for the article from which I took this info!