On New Year's day, 1859, the Chicago Tribune reported: "Within the past year from fifty to sixty brick stores, in blocks of two to five to seven in number, have been thus raised."
Critics in rival cities thought it was absurd to do this, saying this would bankrupt the city. One particularly vehement one in Cincinnati said that he'd bet his whole fortune on Chicago not doubling its population for at least 50 years.
He would have lost as Chicago's population doubled in ten years.
"Previously, the city was infamous for streets that were less less thoroughfares than sinkholes."
Chicago's problem was that it had been built on low-lying land along the Chicago River. Floods and rains produced quagmires. Some of the mud holes would be marked "No Bottom." Stranded carts buried up to their hubs in mud were common sights after rain.
This also made it almost impossible to separate drinking water from waste water. Sewage contaminated the drinking water causing epidemics. In 1854 alone, cholera caused 1424 deaths.
--DaCoot
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