This Week in Petroleum History: Aug. 31 – Sept. 6

by | Aug 31, 2026 | This Week in Petroleum History

August 31, 1850 – San Francisco Utility manufactures Gas from Coal –

The San Francisco Gas Company was incorporated in 1850 to produce and distribute manufactured gas extracted from coal. Irish immigrants Peter and James Donahue and engineer Joseph Eastland erected a “gasification plant” to distill coal for manufacturing the gas for lighting. Their company in 1852 illuminated San Francisco’s first “town gas” street lamps. San Francisco Gas became Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) in 1905, and by 1915 the company operated almost 8,500 street lamps — each hand lit and shut off every day. The last coal-gas lamp was extinguished in 1930 (also see the History of Con Ed).

(more…)

This Week in Petroleum History, February 2 – 8

by | Feb 2, 2026 | This Week in Petroleum History

February 2, 1923 – First Anti-Knock Gas goes on Sale –

The world’s first anti-knock gasoline containing a tetra-ethyl lead compound went on sale at the Refiners Oil Company service station in Dayton, Ohio. Discovered two years earlier by General Motors scientists, “Ethyl” vastly improved engine performance. The company initially provided service stations with bolt-on adapters called “Ethylizers” to meter the proper proportion of the new additive. (more…)

Pin It on Pinterest