The Astoria Light, Heat, and Power Company was located at the northwestern tip of Queens along the East River. Construction of the plant involved the daunting task of turning 5 million cubic yards of dredge and waste material into landfill by placing them in revetments of timber and stone.

The plant produced illuminating gas, used for street-lighting and made from coal tar. Illuminating gas differed from fuel gas because of its lower temperature and highly luminous flame.

Illuminating gas was made by heating coal in a closed container called a retort. The gases which came off the coal were moved to a water trap, known as a hydraulic main, before being cooled in a condenser where tar and ammonia were filtered out.

These movable gantries, positioned at the edge of the East River, brought coal to be burned from barge to storage pile. The gantries were then the largest of their kind at 603 feet long and 103 feet high.

In 1913, the plant was deemed the largest in the world by Sir Corbet Woodall, Britain's Dean of Gas. At the time, the plant was only partially completed, with two of four units constructed.

Because the plant never reached completion, it may still have been smaller than London's Beckton Station. However, there was no doubt that the volume of ground pollution produced by the facility was unparalleled.

The Transcontinental Pipeline was completed in 1955, eliminating the need for gasification plants. The Pipeline brought natural gas to New York and New Jersey from the Gulf Coast of Texas. Astoria Light, Heat and Power closed. Con Edison, which had merged with the company in the 1930s, demolished the plant to build an electric power plant.