Charles Ferdinand Dowd
Educator, Visionary
Charles Ferdinand Dowd was born in Madison, Connecticut, in 1825, the eighth generation of his family to be born in America. Charles graduated from Yale University in 1854 and began a long career as an educator and school administrator. He and his wife Harriet moved to Saratoga Springs in 1868 and purchased Temple Grove Seminary, a school first opened in 1856 by Rev. Luther Beecher, but which had recently closed. Working together as co-principals, Charles and Harriet reopened the school as a place for young women to obtain a well-rounded education.
Even before Charles came to Saratoga Springs, he had taught classes about the need for standardizing time across the country because of railroad travel. A person traveling west found that each locality operated on its own solar time, making rail travel unreliable, difficult and confusing. Charles had a vision of creating standard time zones to eliminate this issue. In 1870 he suggested four time zones at different meridians that he named Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific. Towns within the boundary of each meridian would be on the same time. This proposal was met with criticism and defiance from the railroads and from some local communities.
Charles lobbied hard for the adaptation of this system at his own personal expense. Finally, on November 18, 1883, some of his ideas were accepted and standard time was implemented by the railroads. By use of the telegraph, rail stations in each time zone synchronized their clocks for the first time in history. These borders were straight along meridians, and not all rural communities accepted this standardization. By an act of Congress the Standard Time Act of 1918 adjusted the boundaries to fit urban and settled areas and created official, uniform time zones that were widely observed.
Throughout his campaign for time-zone reform, Charles continued to teach at Temple Grove Seminary, retiring in 1898. His son Franklin took over the seminary and in 1911 sold it to Lucy Skidmore Scribner, who created what went on to become Skidmore College.
Charles F. Dowd lived his remaining days in Saratoga Springs. On November 4, 1904, he was coming home from visiting a sick friend when he was struck by a train on North Broadway. It is ironic that the mode of transportation that drove him to advocate for standardizing time took his life. Today a memorial to Charles Dowd stands behind the main branch of the Adirondack Trust Company, recognizing his contributions to Saratoga Springs, the nation, and the world.