Early Lancaster Gas Street Light Now
in Sherman's Backyard

The Sherman House Museum acquired an old gas street light and it has now been installed in the backyard of the museum. Thanks go to Jim Hachtel, FHA board member and SHM volunteer for wiring and installing the light, to Dave Rodenbaugh for the inside wiring and to Jim Guess at Ray-Mar Steel for donation of materials.

Charles Goslin wrote in Crossroads and Fence Corners (volume I, page 69): "With coal plentiful, a Lancaster ordinance in 1855 provided for establishing a gasworks in the city. This industry converted coal to artificial gas…A city ordinance of 1856 provided for a lamplighter whose duty was to light the city lights each evening, except on moonlight nights when these street lights were not needed."

It was not until 1886 that the first electrical street lights were installed.