Whensday: 1783, Gas lighting

In dark days it helps to have light, wherever you go. Imagine days of long ago when one only had candles or oil lamps to light the way. A house could be lit because it was a room, or several rooms, lit by a lamp, the light reaching into the corners thinly, laying fully on the people or things sitting closest to the lamp. But in the streets of the city, darkness fell as the sun went down. Everyone went home. 

Except that the couldn’t go home. An Industrial Revolution was at hand and cities were becoming even more urbanized. And as more people moved to the city, and more people had to work or continue their life through the night, the city streets being dark became a problem. But how to solve this conundrum? The solution was coal gas (called “light gas” inn Dutch). This gas was discovered by Jan Pieter Minckelers in 1783. 

Of course there were others who also looked at the idea and it was a while before cities put in gas lines to light city streets. Maastricht, where Minckelers lived, didn’t have city lights until 1854, but the discovery lightened the world in many cities (notably London) long before this. 

These were the days of street lighters, men who would light and douse the street lights at the appropriate time, walking through the streets of the city. Gas was brought into homes as well, bringing light to all corners whenever one needed. Of course it also brought some danger. These days natural gas is used most places if it is used at all, and most places depend on electricity for lighting - but that is a different story.