Standard Gas Light Company was a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

public utility A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and r ...

which had its primary office at 173

Broadway (Manhattan) Broadway () is a road in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Broadway runs from State Street (Manhattan), State Street at Bowling Green (New York City), Bowling Green for through the Boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan a ...

, in 1890. The business maintained two branch offices at the southeast corner of

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and

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and 19 and 21 West

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. The branch offices served the

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district and the

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

district respectively.

History of corporation; takeover by competitor

In December 1896 the firm reported that the annual aggregate loss of New York City gas companies due to bad debts amounted to $500,000. By the fall of 1898 the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Queens ...

Gas Light Company began to encroach on the business of the Standard Gas Light Company in Harlem. Standard Gas Light Company attempted to sell gas for as little as .40 per thousand feet, but was unable to operate without a loss. In 1900 the Consolidated Gas Company cut the price it sold gas to consumers to .65 per thousand feet. Its ability to maintain this rate while paying its operating expenses and keeping its equipment in prime efficiency, gave it an advantage over its competitors. During the first years of the 20th century it absorbed its rivals, including the Standard Gas Light Company. In 1906 the Standard Gas Light Company filed a suit in the

United States Circuit Court The United States circuit courts were the original intermediate level courts of the United States federal court system. They were established by the Judiciary Act of 1789. They had trial court jurisdiction over civil suits of diversity jurisdict ...

attempting to prevent state officers from enforcing the .80 gas law. The utility contended that if it were compelled to furnish gas to its customers at .80, it would realize a profit of only 14.5 cents per thousand feet.''More Gas Suits'', Wall Street Journal, June 1, 1906, pg. 4.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Defunct natural gas companies of the United States Defunct companies based in New York City Defunct energy companies of the United States Broadway (Manhattan) Non-renewable resource companies established in 1890 Public utilities established in 1890 Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 1906 1890 establishments in New York (state) 1906 disestablishments in New York (state)