Located east of downtown Petersburg and alongside the I-95 corridor, the former Petersburg Gas Company building manufactured gas for government, commercial, and residential use from its establishment in 1851 until the mid-1950s, only interrupted by damage to the building during the Civil War. Today, the one-story, Commercial Style brick masonry building remains remarkably intact, exhibiting distinct interior and exterior sections that trace the expansion of the facility, its changing level of production, and the variety of uses for its product. Outlined in several historic accounts, the building’s trajectory mirrors the larger development and evolution of the gas industry in the United States from the antebellum period through the mid-20th century.