The first great revolution
in stage lighting began in England with the introduction of gas
lighting. In 1804, F. A. Winsor, an entrepreneur, took out a patent on a
lighting apparatus based on gas. An English engineer, William Murdock,
towards the end of the 18th century, had developed this practical
method, which used coal gas for illumination.Gaslight was adopted in American theatres too. The Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia was illuminated by a gas light system on 25th November 1816. An advertisement in the Aurora in November 1816 claimed this to be the first application of gaslighting in theatre in America and boasted that the lighting system was both safe and brilliant.
The Chestnut Theatre burnt down only four years later, on April 1820, one of the first causalities of the new system. Nonetheless, theatres in Baltimore, Boston and in New Orleans soon followed suit and introduced gaslight to their stages.
Source: Manic Sylph 23:26
