Celebrating the Marvels of Light at 39 West Lexington

1916 Old BG&E Building,
Gas Light Panel
(Courtesy: Anomalous_A,
Flickr.com)

  Early Baltimore Gas and Electric History - On March 11, 1802, the Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser reported on a “new light,” the invention of a young scientist named Benjamin Henfrey, being demonstrated as gaslights – it was a novelty, but gained no financial support at first.  It would take several years until Dr. Charles Kugler, a Philadelphia merchant, in an effort to bring his gas manufacturing techniques to public attention, convinced Rembrandt Peale to illuminate a room on June 11, 1816 in his Peale Museum (also known as the Municipal Museum of the City of Baltimore, 225 N. Holliday Street) with burning gas lamps.

  The public was so impressed that, by June 14th, 1816, a small group of men convinced by the demonstrations formed the Gas Light Company of Baltimore (the earliest predecessor of today’s Baltimore Gas and Electric (BG&E)) and petitioned the Mayor and the Baltimore City Council with a plan to begin lighting some of the city streets.  Franchise rights were granted along with a contract.  On December 2^nd of that year, the General Assembly of Maryland approved the incorporation of the first gas company in the New World. 

  In 1888, rival gas companies merged into the Consolidated Gas Company of Baltimore. Several years earlier, in 1879, Thomas Edison demonstrated his incandescent lamp in Menlo Park, NJ that heralded a new era in light.  While the first electric company in Baltimore was the Brush Electric Light Company, incorporated in 1881, the United Electric Light and Power Company was the primary electric service provider for Baltimore.  When they joined in 1906 with Consolidated Gas to become Consolidated Gas Electric Light and Power Company of Baltimore, it became the city’s first fully integrated gas and electric company.

Gas Electric Company,
NW Corner, Liberty
& Lexington, c1906

  In 1915, the integration was by name only and buildings were not only dispersed around the city but the electric division was separate from the gas division.  In leased locations were The House Electric was at a building on 325 North Charles Street, the legal and claims department was in the Title Building, the gas industrial fuel department was at the corner of Saratoga Street and Park Avenue, the electric office was at the Continental Building (near Calvert and Baltimore Streets). The one owned building on the opposite corner of Liberty and Lexington Streets (shown, left) housed the headquarters of the gas division executive, bookkeeping and accounting offices, and sales and commercial departments.  Consolidation would become a reality.

Prior to the Lexington Building
SE Corner, Liberty & Lexington, c1915

 Negotiations began nine years after Baltimore’s Great Fire for the property at the southeast corner of Liberty and Lexington Streets and what was Little Sharp Street (see photo of the site prior to construction, right). On Feb 24, 1915, the Baltimore Sun reported that Boston architect Parker, Thomas & Rice would design the new office building to be erected by J. Henry Miller, Inc. at what is now 39 West Lexington Street to house its corporate leadership and possibly the Pennsylvania Water and Power Company.  Mr. Miller had also built Union Station in Baltimore.

  While construction progressed, on June 16 and 17, 1916, the company celebrated the American Gas Centenary as it was publicized throughout the country, distinguished scientists and engineers gathered in Baltimore for events surrounding the celebration with great fanfare.  On the first day, City Hall’s great bell pealed 100 times (one for each year since Peale added gas illumination to Baltimore Museum exhibits) followed by a four-mile, two hour long, parade in which 2,500 employees marched along with over 10 bands, 200 horses, and 52 decorated floats (some were 40 feet long) depicting among other themes – “The Evolution of Light”, “ The Evolution of Power”, “The Industrial Growth of Baltimore”, and “Household Economics.”  Nothing like it had ever been seen in Baltimore before.

Early Lexington Building photo
circa 1925

View of the Lexington
Building, from present
Liberty Dog Run, c1920

  In December 1916, the new Lexington Building (later to be renamed the Gas and Electric Building) was occupied.  It was built of granite and terra-cotta layered between floors upon a steel structure.  The entire basement, mezzanine, second and third floors were used for showrooms and retail shops highlighting gas and electric appliances and ornamentals of the day (see photos, below). It boasted eight high-speed elevators, filtered water and fountains on each floor as well as hot and cold washstands.

50 Kilowatt Lightbulb,
redisplayed in 1939

  Interestingly enough, it was on the roof of the 39 West Lex building that in order to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Thomas Edison’s invention of his incandescent lamp, for the week of October 14-21, 1929, the largest incandescent light bulb in the world at the time was illuminated – 50 kilowatts!  According to the Sun, “the bulb is 20 inches in diameter.  Its output approximately 1,400,000 lumens.” 

Early BG&E sales room,
39 West Lexington Building,
1st Floor, c1950s

  The building continued to be used for sales showrooms and as BG&E's headquarters throughout the 2000s (see photos, left).  It was placed on the National Register of Historic places and, under guidance by the National Park Service, preserved and restored as it was sold by BG&E to Southern Management Corporation for use as luxury apartments.

(Sources: “A History of Consolidated Gas Electric Light and Power Company of Baltimore, by Thomson King, 1950” and Baltimore Sun Articles)

(Photos: Courtesy of Southern Management Corporation, 39 West Lex; Thomas King book; and Flickr.com)