President Polk turns on the first gas lights in the White House.
Polk had eighty gas light
installed outside the White House while every single light inside was replaced
by gas light with one exception. Mrs.
Polk insisted that one chandelier remain candle-lit. She thought the chandelier in the Blue Room,
believed to have been owned by Napolean, looked better in candlelight.
She was vindicated when on the first night of
using gas lights, the gas ran out and all rooms went dark except for her
candle-lit one.
Electric lights were installed by Pres. Benjamin Harrison in
1891.
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