Although gaslights might seem quaint today, the introduction of gas lighting transformed the way people lived during the 1800s. Just when books and newspapers were becoming less expensive, gas lighting made it possible for poor families to read at night. And as the industrial revolution began, factories could operate for longer hours using gaslights in place of hazardous, expensive candles.

The Chinese first used gas for lighting in salt mines thousands of years ago, but the concept of indoor gas lights was not explored until the late 1700s. By then, coal was commonly used for heating, and scientists knew how to produce flammable gas from coal as well as from other solid fuels such as wood and peat. In 1792 William Murdock, a Scottish inventor living in Cornwall, illuminated his own house with coal-gas, even though many people feared the lights would cause a fatal explosion. The gas illumination...