From Candles to Pipelines: A Renaissance Fair-Inspired History of Natural Gas
It seems this fall that the Renaissance Fair is the hot ticket to have. Millions of Americans are spending weekends stepping back into history, trading modern conveniences for turkey legs, chainmail, and the sights and sounds of centuries past. Of course, one thing you won’t find at a renaissance fair is a natural gas utility , and yet the appreciation for history that draws crowds to renaissance festivals offers a useful reminder: every modern convenience has a story.
The natural gas delivery system that today serves more than 189 million Americans did not appear overnight. Like the knightly castles and soaring cathedrals that emerged over centuries, America’s vast network of natural gas pipelines is the product of generations of innovation, investment, and engineering. Its origins stretch back hundreds of years and, much like a renaissance fair itself, reveal a fascinating journey from humble beginnings to something far grander than its creators could have imagined. Today, natural gas is delivered nationwide by a pipeline network with more than 2.8 million miles of pipelines stretching across the United States – the result of hard work, investment and innovation.
Humans have been finding innovative uses for natural gas for a long time. The first use of pipelines to transport natural gas dates back more than 2,500 years, with the ancient Chinese using bamboo pipes to transport natural gas over many miles for use in homes. This was, of course, small scale use. It took the Industrial Revolution to expose the true value of natural gas.
The Scottish inventor William Murdoch, an employee of James Watt, who discovered the steam engine and for whom the Watt is named, was the first to discover in modern times that natural gas could be transported through metal pipes and used for lighting homes as a substitute for and improvement over candles. Murdoch created the first gas distribution network in Europe, comprised of about 70 feet of copper and iron piping to provide light for his own home in 1792, before doubling his system to light a friend’s home. Proof of concept accomplished, Murdoch brought his system to London, where it was publicly demonstrated in 1802.
American business interests were paying attention, as also in 1802, the Baltimorean inventor Benjamin Henfrey realized that natural gas could be invaluable for lighthouses and streetlights. Henfrey wrote to President Thomas Jefferson to inform him of his proposal and over the next decade small-scale demonstration projects – what we would call pilot programs today – became increasingly common across the United States.
Appropriately, Baltimore was then the first American city to allow a natural gas company to install a delivery system for street lighting, with the scientist Dr. Benjamin Kugler collaborating with Baltimore artist Rembrandt Peale to convince four local businessmen to help organize the Gas Light Company of Baltimore (still in operation and known today as Baltimore Gas and Electric) and working together to petition the Mayor and City Council for the right to install a pipeline network along the city’s streets. And after remarkable success, soon natural gas utilities were cropping up in cities and towns all across the U.S.
With access to natural gas assured, new types of natural gas appliances proliferated. Natural gas stoves, boilers, and home heating systems became increasingly common across the United States. And in a virtuous cycle, natural gas also helped America to become an industrial juggernaut, raising economic conditions of Americans such that they were able to afford these new natural gas appliances. Rapidly expanding demand for natural gas was driving local natural gas utilities to continue expanding their pipeline networks to serve a constantly growing customer base. With the ability to transport natural gas through large steel pipes, and with demand fueled by millions of households, the natural gas delivery system began to take on its recognizably modern form.
Renaissance Fairs celebrate the technologies, traditions, and craftsmanship of centuries past, but they also remind us how dramatically modern life has changed. Thankfully, when the fair closes for the evening, most of us return home to comfortsfueled by a natural gas delivery system built through more than 200 years of innovation.