About The Oldest Street Light In America
This light illuminates one man's overshadowed contributions to street lamp history
A street light, also known as a streetlamp, lamp post, or light pole, is an outdoor lighting fixture used to illuminate public areas. Street lights play a crucial role in urban infrastructure, enhancing public safety, facilitating nighttime activities, and contributing to the overall ambiance of public spaces.
Pelham Street in Newport, Rhode Island was the first street in the United States lit by gas lamps way back in 1805. The street has been lit even since, making it home to the oldest street light(s) in America.
Pelham Street was the first street in the country to use gas-illuminated streetlights according to the State of Rhode Island. The Museum of Newport History and Newport Historical Society describes it as the first street in America to be lighted by gas lamps.
Originally, the light burned whale oil. It was later converted to gas, and eventually to electricity. It has undergone several restorations over the years to maintain its historical integrity. Its installation coincides with a period of growth and modernization in early 19th-century American cities.
Gas lighting was the most popular method of lighting before electricity became widespread and economical in the 1890s. David Melville was a pewterer who lived in Newport. In the early 1800s, he decided to create a gas-powered street lamp to light the space outside his house.
A pewterer by trade and manufacturer of housewares, Melville experimented with hydrogenous gas, made from burning coal and wood. Working from his house on Pelham Street, Melville distilled flammable gas from tar, rosin or vegetable material and piped it to lamp fixtures of his own designs.
In 1805 he illuminated his house and sidewalk on the corner of Thames. In 1810, Melville obtained a U.S. patent for his invention. But despite interest from various political figures, he was unable to secure any funding.
Seven years after he obtained his patent, a different model of a gas street lamp was introduced in Baltimore, illuminating its Market Street in 1817 as the first public street light. David Melville even tried to light the Beavertail Light House with gas in 1817.
But lobbying from whale oil interests in Nantucket and New Bedford killed the proposal after one year, despite support from William Ellery and other congressmen. Discouraged, Melville returned to metalwork, but lived long enough to see the creation of the Newport Gas Light Company in 1853.
Next to the commemorative light on the corner of Thames and Pelham in Newport, there’s a plaque that memorializes Melville's achievement. The bronze plaque and memorial street lamp are located on the little side street next to the 1 Pelham East nightclub. The light is actually on Pelham Street.
*Note: The city of Baltimore claims to have America's first street lamp, but that claim is inaccurate. Though Baltimore did indeed have the first publicly funded street lamp in 1817, it was in Newport, Rhode Island, that America's earliest gas street lamp first flickered to life in 1805. Baltimore's existing first public street lamp is actually a replica that was installed in 1997.
