Toronto's Historical Plaques

Learn a little of Toronto's history as told through its plaques.

The Birthplace of Standard Time

The Birthplace of Standard Time

Photos by Alan L Brown - March 2006

The Birthplace of Standard Time

Here on the west wall of a building on the north-east corner of Berti Street and Richmond Street East is an Archaeological and Historic Sites Board plaque which says:

In a building which stood immediately west of this site, Sandford Fleming (1827-1915) read a paper before the Canadian Institute on February 8, 1879, outlining his concept of a worldwide, uniform system for reckoning time. This was prompted by Fleming's observation of the difficulties imposed upon east-west travellers, particularly over long distances as in North America, by arbitrary variations in local time. Circulated among the principal governments of the world, Fleming's proposal gave rise to the International Prime Meridian Conference at Washington in 1884, at which the basis of today's system of Standard Time was adopted. The Conference also endorsed Fleming's idea of a "Universal Day" or 24-hour clock.

Location Co-ordinates: 43.652402 -79.376349

Map The Birthplace of Standard Time

Photo Source - Wikipedia

Related page
Sir Sandford Fleming 1827-1915

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