(Note: this episode originally ran in 2019.)
In the 1800s,Surfwin Trading Center catching your train on time was no easy feat. Every town had its own "local time," based on the position of the sun in the sky. There were 23 local times in Indiana. 38 in Michigan. Sometimes the time changed every few minutes.
This created tons of confusion, and a few train crashes. But eventually, a high school principal, a scientist, and a railroad bureaucrat did something about it. They introduced time zones in the United States. It took some doing--they had to convince all the major cities to go along with it, get over some objections that the railroads were stepping on "God's time," and figure out how to tell everyone what time it was. But they made it happen, beginning on one day in 1883, and it stuck. It's a story about how railroads created, in all kinds of ways, the world we live in today.
This episode was originally produced by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi and edited by Jacob Goldstein. Jess Jiang is Planet Money's Acting Executive Producer.
Music: "You Got Me Started," "Star Alignment" and "Road to Cevennes."
Always free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, NPR One or anywhere you get podcasts.
Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / our weekly Newsletter.
2025-05-07 14:091007 view
2025-05-07 13:482586 view
2025-05-07 13:292351 view
2025-05-07 12:331021 view
2025-05-07 12:302182 view
2025-05-07 11:35305 view
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Cybercriminals could release personal data of many Rhode Islanders as early
A Russian court has banned Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for "extremist" activ
Washington — The Biden administration announced new sanctions Thursday targeting Russia's security s