Stoves and Ovens: Gas and Electric: Gas Ranges

Natural gas (methane) was used in many places in the world, but until the mid-nineteenth century, it was difficult to recover and store the gas. In the late eighteenth century, William Murdoch, a Scottish engineer, pioneered a technique for manufacturing gas from coal. After further experimentation, he developed a system that could fuel street lights. Beginning in 1800 Murdoch and others designed and built gasworks for mills and factories. In the United States in 1816, Baltimore chartered the first gas-manufacturing plant, and other American cities followed soon thereafter. Until the late nineteenth century, gas was used almost exclusively for street illumination.