<P> On November 2, 1868, the then British colony of New Zealand officially adopted a standard time to be observed throughout the colony, and was perhaps the first country to do so . It was based on the longitude 172 ° 30 ′ East of Greenwich, that is 11 hours 30 minutes ahead of GMT . This standard was known as New Zealand Mean Time . </P> <P> Timekeeping on the American railroads in the mid-19th century was somewhat confused . Each railroad used its own standard time, usually based on the local time of its headquarters or most important terminus, and the railroad's train schedules were published using its own time . Some junctions served by several railroads had a clock for each railroad, each showing a different time . </P> <P> Charles F. Dowd proposed a system of one - hour standard time zones for American railroads about 1863, although he published nothing on the matter at that time and did not consult railroad officials until 1869 . In 1870 he proposed four ideal time zones (having north--south borders), the first centered on Washington, D.C., but by 1872 the first was centered on the meridian 75 ° W of Greenwich, with geographic borders (for example, sections of the Appalachian Mountains). Dowd's system was never accepted by American railroads . Instead, U.S. and Canadian railroads implemented a version proposed by William F. Allen, the editor of the Traveler's Official Railway Guide . The borders of its time zones ran through railroad stations, often in major cities . For example, the border between its Eastern and Central time zones ran through Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and Charleston . It was inaugurated on Sunday, November 18, 1883, also called "The Day of Two Noons", when each railroad station clock was reset as standard - time noon was reached within each time zone . The zones were named Intercolonial, Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific . Within a year 85% of all cities with populations over 10,000, about 200 cities, were using standard time . A notable exception was Detroit (which is about halfway between the meridians of eastern time and central time) which kept local time until 1900, then tried Central Standard Time, local mean time, and Eastern Standard Time before a May 1915 ordinance settled on EST and was ratified by popular vote in August 1916 . The confusion of times came to an end when Standard zone time was formally adopted by the U.S. Congress in the Standard Time Act of March 19, 1918 . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (August 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table>

Who came up with the idea of timezones