elected as its first president. The club, renamed the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce in 1912, was the primary vehicle for Lilly's city development goals. It was instrumental in making numerous advances for the city, including citywide paved streets, elevated railways to allow vehicles and people to pass beneath them, and a city sewage system. The companies that provided these services were created through private and public investments and operated at low-cost; in practice they belonged to the companies' customers, who slowly bought each company back from its initial investors. The model was later followed other regions of Indiana to establish water and electric utility companies. The Commercial Club members also helped fund the creation of parks, monuments, and memorials, as well as successfully attracted investment from other businessmen and organizations to expand Indianapolis's growing industries. After the Gas Boom began to sweep the state in the 1880s, Lilly and other Commercial Club members advocated the creation of a public corporation to pump natural gas from the ground, pipe it to Indianapolis from the Trenton Gas Field, and provide it at low cost to businesses and homes. The project led to the creation of the Consumer Gas Trust Company, which Lilly named. The gas company provided low-cost heating fuel that made urban living much more desirable. The gas was further used to create electricity to run Indianapolis's first public transportation venture, a streetcar system. During the Panic of 1893, Lilly created a commission to help provide food and shelter to the poor people who were adversely affected. His work with the commission led him to make a personal donation of funds and property to the Flower Mission of Indianapolis in 1895. Lilly's substantial donation allowed it to establish Eleanor Hospital, a children's hospital in Indianapolis named in honor of his deceased daughter. The hospital cared for children from families who had no money to pay for routine medical care; it closed in 1909. Lilly's friends often urged him to seek public office, and they attempted to nominate him to run for Governor of Indiana as a Republican in 1896, but he refused. Lilly shunned public office, preferring to focus his attention on his philanthropic organizations. He did regularly endorse candidates, and made substantial donations to politicians who advanced his causes. After former Indiana governor Oliver P. Morton and others suggested the creation of a memorial to Indiana's many Civil War veterans,