Peale Museum gas lightsIn 1816, the first U.S public building to use gas lighting was the Peale Museum in Baltimore, Md. It was built (1813) by artist Rembrandt Peale to be “Peale's Baltimore Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts,” similar to the Philadelphia museum opened by his father (painter Charles Willson Peale). Exhibits included portraits by Rembrandt Peale and other artists, of famous Americans and a prehistoric mastodon skeleton unearthed by his father in 1801. Rembrandt Peale installed gaslights for their publicity value. Rembrandt purchased the patent for Dr. Kugler's coal gas manufacturing, and organized a group of men to charter the Gas Light Company of Baltimore.« |
