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).

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This Week in Petroleum History, January 12 – 18

by | Jan 12, 2026 | This Week in Petroleum History

January 12, 1904 – Henry Ford sets Speed Record –

Seeking to prove his cars were built better than most, Henry Ford set a world land speed record on a frozen Michigan lake. At the time, the Ford Motor Company was struggling to get financial backing for its first car, the Model T. The automotive pioneer drove his No. 999 Ford Arrow across Lake St. Clair, which separates Michigan and Canada, at a top speed of 91.37 mph. (more…)

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