Raising Chicago Out of the Mud-- Part 4: How to Raise a Building

But in Chicago's center it wouldn't do to leave buildings below the new ground level.  Not only single large buildings were raised, but often whole blocks

They would be raised by a large array of jack screws.  An Indiana visitor described this effort:  "All being ready, the superintendent takes his position at some central point, and by a signal, usually a shrill whistle, directs the movements of the men.  he continues his whistle long enough for every man to turn every screw one complete round of the thread.  Thus the building is raised at every point precisely at the same moment, and to the same extent."

In 1860 a whole block of buildings on Lake Street between Clark and LaSalle streets lifted 6 feet by the simultaneous movement of 6,000 screws.

The following year, the Tremont House, a six-story hotel at lake and Dearborn, was lifted six feet.  George Pullman, then in the building raising business, got the job by promising he could do it without disturbing a guest or breaking a pane of glass.  The huge hotel was occupied throughout the project.  It went off according to his word.

Quite the Accomplishment.  --DaCoot

Raising Chicago Out of the Mud-- Part 3: Raise the Streets

The Chicago Board of Sewerage Commissioners was created as a mandate to fix the problem nature had left with the city.  Storm sewers would be too low to properly drain, so it was decided to lay sewers on top of existing streets and then cover them with tons of fill and put in new streets on top of them..

Starting in 1855, the city elevation was raised about ten feet along the river and varying heights away from it.

Some homeowners brought their residences up to the new grade, others didn't..  This left some neighborhoods looking like an assemblage of huge children's building blocks.  You can still see blocks of homes not brought up to the new elevation in neighborhoods like South Chicago and Back of the Yards.

--Cooter

Raising Chicago Out of the Mud-- Part 2: No Bottom" and Cholera

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

Raising Chicago Out of the Mud-- Part 1: One Turn of the Jack Screw at a Time

From the Nov. 15, 2015, Chicago Tribune "Chicago Flashback: Raising Chicago out of the mud" by Ron Grossman.

And, we're not talking about the city's infamous political mud.

And you can see evidence of Chicago's "Raising" along 24th Street in the Lower West Side where you see a hole the width of a front yard, 8 feet deep in some places.  residents reach what is now their front door, but used to be on the second level, by crossing a concrete slab that resembles a drawbridge.

These holes weren't dug, but are left over from Chicago's effort to raise itself out of the mud

Back in the early to mid 1800s, Chicago was known for its mud.  Lots and lots of mud during certain seasons and times.

This effort took decades and involved raising the grade level upwards of 14 feet and made Chicago the first American city with a comprehensive sewer system  Chicago's skyline grew by one  turn of numerous jack screws at a time.You could see five-and-six-story buildings being raised all the time, sometimes several at once.

--Cooterjack