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Chicago was once too flat to drain its sewage, so engineers raised entire streets by four to five feet and jacked buildings up to match — one 320-foot block of shops was lifted four feet on 6,000 scre
Space Daily • • science
Key Points:
- In March 1860, 600 men used synchronized jackscrews to gradually raise a Chicago city block by nearly five feet over five days, lifting buildings while businesses remained open above.
- Chicago faced severe public health crises due to its flat elevation near Lake Michigan, which prevented proper sewage drainage and led to deadly cholera outbreaks in the mid-19th century.
- Engineer Ellis Chesbrough designed the nation’s first comprehensive underground sewer system, but Chicago’s lack of slope meant streets had to be raised several feet by adding fill and lifting buildings to avoid flooding and sewage issues.
- Raising buildings involved threading heavy timbers through foundations and using hundreds of jackscrews turned in unison to lift structures without damage, a technique successfully applied to many multi-story brick buildings.
- George Pullman, later famous for railway sleeping cars, was among the contractors who pioneered this building-lifting method before shifting his focus away from it as demand declined in the mid-1860s.
