At the turn of the 20th century, US cities were densifying and industrializing. Growth required energy, and gasworks refined the energy stored in coal for distribution to homes, businesses, and industrial manufacturers. The first citywide energy system, coal gasification lighted streets, residences, and factories. It also polluted the air, water, and soil, and left behind persistent hazards that cities are still dealing with.
Because it declined decades before environmental record-keeping, reconstructing the first gas energy system is a substantial task. This site collects original data tracking the urban coal gas industry starting in the late 1800s, the result of a computational-historical analysis of cartographic archives held at the US Library of Congress.