NASHVILLE HISTORY CORNER

NASHVILLE GAS LIGHT COMPANY

BY RIDLEY WILLS II

Early in the 1800s, manufactured gas came into use for the lighting of streets and homes in the northeastern part of the United States. By 1849, the trend was spreading to other parts of the country. A group of Nashville businessmen conceived the idea of organizing a company to serve Nashville with manufactured gas. An application was filed with the State of Tennessee for a charter for this purpose.

On Nov. 21, 1849, the Tennessee State Assembly passed an act authorizing the incorporation of the Nashville Gas Light Company, beginning with a capital of $100,000. Washington Barrow, John Kirkman, Samuel R. Anderson, N.E. Alloway, and William T. Berry were named as commissioners to open books for subscription of stock.

At the first meeting of the stockholders, Washington Barrow was elected president. This Nashville native, a man of dignity and strong personality, was married to Anna Maria Shelby, daughter of prominent Nashville physician John Shelby.

The first order of business for the company was to build a plant for the manufacture of gas from coal. The site selected for the plant was north of the Public Square between Front and Market Streets, now 800 Second Avenue North. Work on the plant began immediately and it was completed 10 months later along with five miles of mains, and the installation of 100 gas street lights.

The plant was composed of two retort houses with iron rafters and roofs; two purifying houses; and a gas holder, or reservoir, 65 feet in diameter, which had a capacity of 400,000 gallons. There was also a house for the superintendent.

Gas manufactured at the plant was made by placing bituminous coal into a retort or oven made of cast iron. It was kept at a bright red heat, which caused the volatile gas to rise from the coal, converting the coal to coke. The gas then passed out of the retort to the purifying house, where coal tar and sooty particles were removed. The gas then moved through water, removing the ammonia by absorption. The gas next went through a condensing apparatus that removed the last traces of tar, steam and aqueous vapors. The last purifying operation percolated the gas through layers of lime, where the impurities of sulphur and carbonic acid were extracted. The gas was then ready to be stored for use.

On the evening of Thursday, Feb. 13, 1851, the first gas street light in Nashville was lit, officially opening the Nashville Gas Light Company and beginning a new era of progress, “The Gas Light Era.”

According to Miss Jane Thomas in her book, Old Days in Nashville, the John Bass home was the first to use gas in the city.

Note: The information in this History Corner article comes from George D. Hulsey’s booklet Shades of the Past: A History of Nashville Gas Company.