During the 1850s and 1860s, engineers carried out a piecemeal raising of the grade of central Chicago to lift the city out of its low-lying swampy ground. Buildings and sidewalks were physically raised on jackscrews.
In January 1858, the first masonry building in Chicago to be thus raised—a four-story, 70-foot-long (21 m), 750-ton (680 metric tons) brick structure situated at the north-east corner of Randolph Street and Dearborn Street—was lifted on two hundred jackscrews to its new grade, which was 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) higher than the old one, “without the slightest injury to the building.”
More "late nineteenth century" engineering that "shithole" engineering.
happytoes 7 points 3 months ago
Raising of Chicago
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More "late nineteenth century" engineering that "shithole" engineering.