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1850....

October 11....."The most important local events to Chicago were the completion and opening of the first section of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad to Elgin, and the lighting of the city with gas. The opening of the railroad to Elgin was celebrated February 1 by a grand excursion over the line to that town".

"The early history of the gas company and lighting of the city by that method is as follows: An act was approved February 12, 1849, authorizing the formation of the Chicago Gas Light & Coke Company, with H. L. Stewart, W. S. Bennett, F. C. Sherman, P. L. Updike, and P. Page as incorporators. Under their charter, the company was given the exclusive right to supply the city with gas for ten years. In October the work was begun of laying the mains, erecting works and getting the whole system into operation. The contract for this was let to George F. Lee, of Philadelphia, and the work was completed in August, 1850. The city was lighted for the first time Wednesday afternoon, September 4. From the Gem of the Prairie,bearing date the 7th of that month, the following interesting account is taken:

"Wednesday marked an era in Chicago. At about 2 o'clock P. M. the gas pipes were filled, and the humming noise made by the escaping gas, at the tops of the lamp-posts indicated that everything was all right Shortly afterward the fire was applied and brilliant torches flamed on both sides of Lake Street as far as the eye could see, and wherever the posts were set. The lanterns not having been affixed to the posts, the bright gaseous flame eddied and flickered in the wind, sometimes apparently disappearing, but anon shooting up as brightly as ever. The burners in Reed & Co's and in Keen's were lighted about the same time, presenting a steady golden flame. We believe these establishments had the honor of first light up with gas; others will not much be behind them. In the evening the lamps were again lighted, and for the first time in the history of Chicago; several of the streets were illuminated in regular city style. Hereafter she will not "hide her light under a bushel".

"Of the initial illumination the Journal also said: ' Some of the stores on Lake Street, particularly those devoted to California ware, made a brilliant appearance,and the gas lent an additional glory to refined gold. But the City Hall with its thirty-six burners, is the brightest of all, night being transformed into mimic day".

"The first gas works were situated on the south side of Monroe Street near Market. The officers of the company were H. T. Dickey, president; Jerome Beecher; secretary; James K. Burtis, J. Keen, George F. Lee, Mark Skinner, George Smith, and E. B. Williams, directors. The cost of the lighting was fixed, under the contract, at $15 a post; but on the 13th of September, at a meeting of the Common Council, it was ordered that no street lamps be lighted until the citizens should subscribe one-half the cost, or $7.50 for each, lamp erected on the streets. The business increased each year, and by 1855 there were nearly seventy-eight miles of service pipe laid : nearly two thousand consumers, and a total consumption of nearly forty-one million cubic feet of gas."