The history of Daylight Saving Time

For more than 230 years, the idea of Daylight Saving Time has been rolling around in the minds of great innovators. It was first conveived by Benjamin Franklin as a joke in the year 1784, as a way to save money because natural light was cheaper than artificial light.

The idea didn’t catch on across the globe until 1907 when William Willett came up with the idea of British Summer Time, as a way to keep people from wasting valuable daytime in the morning hours. His idea didn’t become a reality until after his deth, when parliament passed a law in 1916.

The idea soon caught on in Germany and then eventually was put into law here in the United States in 1918. It’s been repealed countless times in the US, but Daylight Saving Time is still observed nationwide, with the exception of a few states and territories.

The most recent addition to the law was The Energy Policy Act of 2005, which extended Daylight Saving Time through the first weekend in November. There are many reasons for why Daylight Saving Time was invented here in the US. Those reasons include, fuel shortage during the world war, extra daylight to force people to grocery shop, and one more reason that stems back to the creation of the idea. Many people still observe daylight saving time because of William Willet’s idea that an extra hour of daylight is just enjoyable.

This weekend, millions of American’s will set their clocks back to mark the end of Daylight Saving Time. It marks an end to exactly a century of it being observed across the globe. Daylight Saving Time has long been considered the onset to winter.

This Saturday night before heading to bed, you should set your clocks back one hour. The official time change occurs Sunday morning at 2 am, when the time falls back to 1 am.

In addition to the time change, it’s always wise to make sure that you change your batteries in your smoke detectors. The end of Daylight Saving Time is typically followed by cooler weather and increased usage of space heaters, which could pose a fire risk.

To help you remember how to change your clocks, there’s a simple mnemonic that you can remember. Spring Forward Fall Back.