before 1883, local mean time was used in all of north america. this meant there were many different local times. this caused problems for train schedules. sandford fleming, a canadian, proposed standard time at a meeting of the royal canadian institute on february 8, 1879. the owners of the major railroads met in chicago to make the standard time system. most states began using the system soon after the railroads. the u.s. government officially began using the system almost fifty years later.