Gaslights & cobblestones

Factual Questions
1

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?

2

Riverside, a western suburb, has mostly gas lamps–my understanding is that they stay lit all day because that is cheaper then having someone go around and turn them off and on. I assume Riverside pays NICOR for the privilege. My friend tells me the suburb has trouble getting parts when they break–only one or two companies still make the things. http://www.riverside-illinois.com/History2.htm

At least one of the parks there preserves a bit of trail from back in the day which you might call “cobbled”–it looked more like “bricked” to me.