A factory or industrial facility where gas (especially coal gas for lighting and heating) was produced, processed, and distributed to cities.
Compound of gas plus works (from Old English werc). The term became prominent in the 1800s when coal gas infrastructure was a major urban innovation.
Gasworks were the internet data centers of the 1800s—cities competed to have the most modern gasworks, and discovering how to make better gas from coal was a technological revolution that changed when people could work and play.
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