I don’t know if Cecil was being facetious when he spoke of neighbourhoods with “cobblestones and gaslight and guys delivering ice” (“Why doesn’t my house have a water meter?”), but there actually are a few operating gaslights left in Hyde Park. I lived in Hyde Park for several years, and they always fascinated me. I particularly remember seeing them along 57th Street between Kenwood and Dorchester, and along Blackstone between 55th and 56th Street, blazing away night & day (I assume because the occupation of lamplighter has gone the way of the iceman.)
I did always wonder, though: why have these particular ones survived? Do gaslights still exist elsewhere in other Chicago neighbourhoods? And who pays Peoples Energy for the gas they burn, anyhow?