The Night Gaslight Changed Everything at The Peale
On a fall evening in 1816, people gathered along Holliday Street, drawn by a strange new glow coming from inside a museum.
Visitors pressed close to the windows of the Peale building, whispering, pointing, and shielding their eyes from a brightness unlike anything they had ever seen.
What they witnessed was nothing short of revolutionary. Inside, Rembrandt Peale—artist, scientist, and visionary founder of the museum—had done something no American institution had dared to try.
He illuminated his galleries with manufactured gas light, making Baltimore the first city in the United States (and one of the first in the world) to be lit this way.
The Peale didn’t just host a moment of technological wonder — it sparked an energy infrastructure that would help power a growing nation.
A Museum Becomes a Powerhouse
Rembrandt Peale wasn’t content to merely astonish an audience. In 1817, he founded the Baltimore Gas Company, manufacturing gas in a modest shed behind the museum and pumping it through hollowed-out wooden pipes to street lamps across the city. That company grew, evolved, and eventually became Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE)—today one of the oldest natural gas utilities in the world. Think about that for a moment: A museum—your museum—helped change how entire cities lit their streets, homes, and businesses.
Why This Story Still Matters
More than 200 years later, The Peale is still doing what Rembrandt Peale did best: using creativity, innovation, and community to illuminate Baltimore. Today, we shine that light through:
- Digital storytelling and oral history labs
- Artist and community-made exhibitions
- Restorative Arts apprenticeships
- Performing arts and cultural programming
- Experimental media, public art, and AR/VR projects
The tools have changed, but the purpose hasn’t: to help Baltimore tell its stories.
A Light That Still Needs Fuel
Just as gaslight needed a steady source to burn, The Peale needs the support of people who believe in the power of community storytelling. When you make a year-end gift, you aren’t just supporting a historic building—you’re fueling:
- Free programming
- Accessible exhibitions
- Space for Baltimore artists and creators
- Jobs, training, and opportunities for apprentices
- The preservation of the oldest purpose-built museum in the U.S.
You’re helping keep Baltimore’s brightest ideas switched on.
Let’s Keep the Light Burning
Rembrandt Peale lit the first flame. Generations of Baltimoreans kept it glowing. Now it’s our turn. Make a year-end gift to The Peale today and help Baltimore tell its stories.
