Natural Gas or methane (CH4), that is the kind that comes out of the ground, was not used as a fuel or even for lighting until the 1800s. First used for lighting then for cooking and heating when Robert Bunsen - yes THAT Bunsen - showed how to use it for that.

For most of the 1800s, natural gas was used almost exclusively as a fuel for lamps. Because there were no pipelines to bring gas into individual homes, most of the gas went to light city streets. After the 1890s, however, many cities began converting their street lamps to electricity. Gas producers began looking for new markets for their product.

In 1885, Robert Bunsen invented a burner that mixed air with natural gas. The "Bunsen burner" showed how gas could be used to provide heat for cooking and warming buildings.

And gas pipe lines did not begin to be put into the ground until the late 1800s.

It took the construction of pipelines to bring natural gas to new markets. Although one of the first lengthy pipelines was built in 1891 -it was 120 miles long and carried gas from fields in central Indiana to Chicago - there were very few pipelines built until after World War II in the 1940s.

Improvements in metals, welding techniques and pipe making during the War made pipeline construction more economically attractive. After World War II, the nation began building its pipeline network. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, thousands of miles of pipeline were constructed throughout the United States. Today, the U.S. pipeline network, laid end-to-end, would stretch to the moon and back twice.

All the transportation of gas over land is through pipe lines.  Gas for lighting was not very good, giving of a very low light, that is until the gas mantle was invented by Carl Auer von Welsbach. Yes the very same mantle you see used to this day in Coleman camp lights.  But with the invention of the electric light, it was quickly replaced. 
The stinky smell one smells when there is gas present is added so that one becomes aware of it. This was do to the new London School explosion and fire that killed hundreds of children and their teachers. Natural gas itself has no odor and is colorless so it is hard to detect...until it is too late.

Most of the gas used in the metropolitan areas was so called Town Gas or Coal Gas as large scale gas pipe lines were not really laid much until after WWII. 

Traditionally, coal gas was made by destructively distilling coal, and as such its production was physically and chemically quite distinct from that of the range of gaseous fuels called manufactured gas, syngas, hygas, Dowson gas and producer gas in some countries, which are made by partial combustion of feed stock (which need not be coal) in some mixture of air, oxygen or steam, reducing the latter to hydrogen (although with some feed stocks some destructive distillation may occur). However, this distinction about the production process is less material to the product itself or to its naming, at any rate in modern usage.

Originally a by-product of the coking process, coal gas was extensively exploited in the 19th and early 20th centuries for lighting, cooking and heating. The development of manufactured gas paralleled that of the industrial revolution and urbanization; and the byproducts, coal tars and ammonia, were at some times an important chemical feedstock for the dye and chemical industry. The whole rainbow of artificial dye colours is made from coal gas and coal tar.

Since most gas wells were not anywhere near the cities and piping it was still very expensive, they made their own.  Until the later part of the twentieth century, gas heating was accomplished by the use of a ceramic hearer. My aunt had one in the fireplace in her house in Cleveland and I have seen many like it in other houses built in the 1920s.

Gas fired home furnaces did not start showing up until the 1950s or so but were not nearly as popular as the oil fired type. Both of which replace the old coal fired furnaces that were big, bulky and very, very dirty.  Lately though a new type of heating has become more popular. The so called Tankless Water Heaters or Hybred Water Heaters which supply hot water as well as heat. These have very high efficiency approaching 90%.

This has made the use of gas for heating a lot more popular. Gas has also become more popular for cooking as well. Having cooked with gas myself I can say it is far superior to electric. Gas for commercial cooking and heating has been around for a while.

One of the main ways to extract natural gas is by the use of Hydraulic fracturing, which has gotten a bad rap as of late.  It has been in use for a long time so the technique has been perfected but the renewed interest in natural gas has lead to irresponsible behavior on the part of some companies.

The main way to transport natural gas to the consumer is via pipelines many of which have been in the ground since the early 1900s and most since the 1940s. Natural gas is not transported in liquid for except by tanker ships for long distances and liquefying it and un-liquefying it is complex and expensive. Unfortunately far too many of these pipelines need to be replaced and the gas companies are reluctant to do so.  When done properly and with the utmost attention to safety, natural gas can be a very clean and efficient fuel.