On November 18, 1883, both U.S. and Canadian railroads begin using four continental time zones to end the confusion of dealing with thousands of local times. Until that time, communities maintained a local time system. This made coordination of schedules difficult. Rather than waiting for the government to establish a system, the railroads agreed upon their own system using time zones. It was quickly adopted nationwide, but Congress did not make it a federal mandate until 1918.
