Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith P.
Massive ones were seen in large US cities as well (the Elmshurst Tanks in Queens , NYC, were a notable landmark), and Toronto also had them in the distillery district and probably elsewhere too. They were originally used for town or coal gas, which was made from coal and piped into homes. Nasty stuff apparently. I remember as a kid visiting an old house on Lawrence St and the deactivated gas lamps were still attached to the walls. I had no idea back then that there was a network of gas mains in the streets of Halifax way back when.
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I never put 2 and 2 together to consider that there was actually a gas network within the city back then, but was aware of wall mounted gas lamps when I read about the Poor House, which burnt down in 1882, killing 31 (not conclusive due to poor record keeping) people. I don't believe the cause was determined to be the lamps, but certainly gas flowing in pipes within the walls would have helped the fire out a little.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-s...lled-1.3918547