Gaslight installed on Baltimore streets

Baltimore

February 7, 1817

Categories: American Innovation, Urban
Tags: 1817 – 1860, Baltimore City

Baltimore City is the first American city to install public gaslight. The innovation is born when Rembrandt Peale brings gaslight to his museum galleries in 1816. The Baltimore mayor and other dignitaries are so impressed with Peale’s gaslighting demonstration, they soon found a company in 1817 to light the streets as a means to lower crime. The ancestor of the present Baltimore Gas and Electric Company is born.

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