When did North Carolina begin observing daylight savings time?

Question

My dad says that NC began observing it during the 80s. My mom says that it was before then. Someone help please. Thanks. If you can, could you provide proof.

Answer 1

Wow, I did a lot of googling, and think I eventually found the answer ... I think your Mom is right!

DST - daylight savings time - has come and gone in US history.  In WWII, FDR re-instituted it, and after the war, many states adopted their own standards.  By the 1960s, however, this had created chaos as different local and state governments adopted what suited themselves.  So in 1966 the US government passed the Uniform Time Act, and established rules for the whole country.

Most states went with DST pretty soon after that, although there have been a few long term holdouts.  According to the article, in 1967 the NY Times wrote that the Carolinas were expected to adopt DST in the next year or so.  Perhaps that got delayed a little, but I bet that the change happened in the 60s or early 70s.

As circumstantial evidence in support of this, the third website below allows you to type in a location and find the times of sunrise, etc.  So I typed Raleigh NC on June 3, 1966, and the time was in Eastern Standard Time, but in 1967 it was in Eastern Daylight time.

Perhaps you could confirm this through the local library or a historical society.

Hope this helps  :-)