This is an I-Heart podcast.

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories,

and we tell stories about everything here on this show, including your stories,

send them to our American Stories.com.

They're some of our favorites.

Up next, here's Greg Hangler with a story of how time zones came to America.

What time is it?

It's a seemingly easy question, but depending on what time zone you live in, your time

will be different. The development and spread of the railroads across the United States in the

1800s brought a wave of changes to American life. It's a heroic chapter in American history,

but the most interesting transformation is least known.

Each town in the United States had its own time, depending on when the noonday sun was directly

overhead. Here's American popular science author Stephen Johnson.

So you know what it's like taking a train ride today.

You can kick back, read a book, listen to some music.

But imagine what it would have been like in 1870 trying to take a train.

Let's say we're traveling from New Haven to New York.

And so I get on the train at 12 o'clock New Haven.

And it takes us two hours to get to New York. So we should be arriving in New York at 2 o'clock New Haven time. And it takes us two hours to get to New York.

So we should be arriving in New York at 2 o'clock.

But in fact, in New York time, that's technically 155.

But the train we're on is actually running on Boston time.

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