What city was dubbed "The City that Lit the World"?

New Bedford was "The City that Lit the World". This name was earned by the use of whale oil for lamps and candles and was home base for 500 whaling ships during its 19th-century heyday. Before the eve of the Civil War, New Bedford was the wealthiest city per capita in the United States. This city also inspired Herman Melville's masterpiece, Moby-Dick. Some of the buildings, (ex. Seaman's Bethel) still exist as portrayed in the beginning of the book.

New Bedford was to whaling what Detroit was to automobiles.

At the dawn of the 17th century, the first pilgrims watched from the Mayflower as throngs of whales breached the waters off Cape Cod. Native Americans would soon pass whaling techniques on to the new American settlers, who would come to dominate the industry for the next two centuries. By the mid-1800s, more than two-thirds of the world's whaling ships hailed from American ports, and American whale men traveled the globe in pursuit of the largest creatures on earth.