108: The Raising of Chicago
In the 1850s and 1860s, the young city of Chicago was blighted by disease, its growth hampered by its lack of a sewer system. In order to solve the city’s constant public health crises, a group of engineers concocted a plan that would be unthinkable today: physically lifting an entire city out of the muck.
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Sources and Further Reading
Chicago’s ‘sunken’ homes are remnants of a bold effort to raise the city out of the mud: Link
It Happened in Chicago: Link
Raising and Watering a City: Ellis Sylvester Chesbrough and Chicago's First Sanitation System: Link
Boom, Bust, and Recovery in Early Chicago, 1835–1850: Link
Chicago's waste lands: refuse disposal and urban growth, 1840-1990: Link