ABSTRACT
The subject of gasworks and other coal-tar sites is both a broad and a complex one, encompassing as it does both the roughly 160-year history of the industry's operation, and the subsequent response to its environmental legacy that came several decades after the industry ceased to operate. During this period, the gas industry had a significant effect on the growth of modern cities, changes in domestic life, and in the birth of several related industries, including a large part of the modern chemical industry. At the same time, the industry was affected by external factors including the development of government regulations, economic patterns such as the development of trusts and holding companies, and changes in basic industries such as the nation's coal economy.
