Ancient Greek writers mentioned gas—natural gas—that seeped from rocks and could be burned. The Chinese are reported to have burned natural gas at least 2,000 years ago to evaporate seawater in shallow pans to produce salt.

The modern use of gas fuels began in the late 18th century, primarily with the development of gas lighting using coal gas. William Murdock, a Scottish engineer, contributed to the development with experiments in the production of coal gas and in its use as an illuminating gas. Around 1810, coal gas began to be used for lighting streets in London.

In 1816, Baltimore became the first city in the United States to install gas street lights. The gas was manufactured in a central plant and distributed by small pipes. Gas lighting for streets, public buildings, and factories came into wide use during the next few decades, and gas lighting in homes came into general use after the Civil War.

In 1885, Carl Auer von Welsbach, an Austrian physicist, invented the gas mantle. The mantle, consisting of a fabric hood coated with materials that glow a brilliant white when heated in a flame, greatly increased the illumination that gas lights could provide. However, electric lighting—chiefly electric-arc lights and incandescent lightbulbs—came to supplant gas lighting during the early 20th century. Faced with the loss of its lighting market, the gas industry turned toward promoting the use of manufactured gases for cooking and heating. The demand for manufactured gases grew as gas stoves and gas-fired furnaces were installed in many homes.

In the United States, some natural gas was being produced by the mid-19th century. Although natural gas was superior to manufactured gases as a source of heat, its use was largely limited through the 19th century to areas near oil and gas fields. In the early 20th century, the introduction of seamless pipes and welded pipeline joints—innovations that made pipes strong enough to withstand high gas pressure—made it possible to transport natural gas over greater distances. By the late 1930's, natural gas had become the major gas fuel in the United States.

The building of an extensive system of natural gas pipelines was begun following World War II. Natural gas became available in virtually every part of the country, and consumption increased steadily through the 1960's. In the mid-1970's there was a shortage of natural gas and uncertainty regarding future supplies. This situation sparked interest in developing large-scale projects for producing substitute natural gas—manufactured gases with a high heating value—from coal or oil shale. However, by the early 1980's, supplies of natural gas were again plentiful following a reduction in demand and an increase in exploration and drilling spurred by the deregulation of natural gas prices in the United States.

The American Gas Association, founded in 1918, is an organization of gas distributors and transporters that compiles statistics and provides information on the industry. Headquarters are in Arlington, Virginia.