
The Raising of Chicago - nacker_hews
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago
======
rayiner
Chicago didn't fuck around when it came to ambitious 19th century engineering:
[http://99percentinvisible.org/post/57747785222/episode-86-re...](http://99percentinvisible.org/post/57747785222/episode-86-reversal-
of-fortune) (reversing the Chicago river--this has a lot of great old
pictures).

Although, see: [http://chicagoist.com/2013/04/19/photos_what_re-
reversing_th...](http://chicagoist.com/2013/04/19/photos_what_re-
reversing_the_chicag.php#photo-1) (reversing it back temporarily this year to
account for flooding).

In school we used to say "aerospace engineers make bombs; civil engineers make
targets." But in fact civil engineering is really cool, especially in terms of
what they were able to do before modern technology: [http://www.colorcoat-
online.com/blog/index.php/2011/05/engin...](http://www.colorcoat-
online.com/blog/index.php/2011/05/engineering-the-history-12-projects-that-
changed-the-world).

~~~
js2
See also the 1893 World's Fair -

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Columbian_Exposition](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Columbian_Exposition)

(One of my favorite books in the last few years is
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_in_the_White_City](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Devil_in_the_White_City))

~~~
timjahn
Amazing book! Hope they finally make it into a movie sometime soon.

~~~
twelvechairs
wow. never knew of this book but I'm an architect with a good understanding of
the pioneering work and complex relationships of Burnham and root, Adler and
Sullivan and mckim mead and white. there are cracking stories to be told here.
I'm going to have to pick up the book now to see if it is done justice.

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RyanMcGreal
North American cities used to be enormously ambitious (see also, for example,
Boston's Back Bay). Contrast the fear, trepidation and status-quo
obstructionism that characterizes municipal affairs today.

~~~
clarkm
Here's a gif of the land reclaimed by Boston over time:

[http://wp.streetwise.co/wp-
content/uploads/2011/06/filling_i...](http://wp.streetwise.co/wp-
content/uploads/2011/06/filling_in_boston.gif)

Can you imagine anything of this scale happening today?

~~~
newbie12
Today's Boston can't even build a traffic tunnel. The Big Dig was a disaster--
took decades, costs billions more than planned, and was so shoddy the finished
roof fell and killed someone.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dig](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dig)

~~~
mackey
As someone who works in an office building along rose kennedy greenway, I
wouldn't say it was totally a disaster. Basically everything along the
greenway has been revitalized and it's pretty beautiful to walk around in the
summer. There is a lot more activity in the area and lots of new restaurants.

~~~
RyanMcGreal
The real problem with the Big Dig is that is was designed and built in
ignorance of the law of demand [1] as it applies to lane capacity. The traffic
congestion that the Big Dig was supposed to eliminate simply moved outward
[2].

They should have eliminated the Big Dig completely and spent the money on
increasing rapid transit capacity.

That said, eliminating the elevated highway that cut the North End off from
the rest of the city seems to have been a major boon.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_demand](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_demand)

[2]
[http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/11/16/big_dig...](http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/11/16/big_dig_pushes_bottlenecks_outward/)

~~~
mackey
I can't really speak to traffic because I rarely drive, but I do agree there
needs to be more investment in rapid transit. I rely on the red line/walking
to get to and from my office. It is the only line I would consider living on.

But I did want to add that it isn't only the north end that was cut off. I
doubt the resurgence of the Sea port area/"innovation district" would have
happened if it hadn't been for the big dig.

------
badman_ting
I took a tour of Seattle, and the guides discussed Seattle going through a
similar transition. Essentially the whole city was raised by one story. But
the roads were done first, creating a sort of "waffle-like" city, where
crossing the street as a pedestrian meant climbing a ladder, crossing the
street, and descending the ladder on the other side. People were sometimes
injured or killed by falling down the ladder, someone else falling down the
ladder, or things falling onto them from street level.

After the sidewalks were raised to match the streets, the underground
sidewalks were kept open for a time, until (predictably) problems started with
drugs and prostitution, etc. They were closed in the early 20th century but
you can tour them today.

~~~
fennecfoxen
See also:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regrading_in_Seattle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regrading_in_Seattle)

~~~
drivers99
For completeness, here's the article about the raising of Pioneer Square that
the parent post was referring to.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Underground](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Underground)

------
graupel
Living here in Chicago it's neat to see the vestiges of this still around -
like 'vaulted sidewalks', where the current sidewalk sits over 5 feet of air,
and then the old sidewalk is down below:

[http://gapersblock.com/airbags/archives/city_streets_how_chi...](http://gapersblock.com/airbags/archives/city_streets_how_chicago_raised_itself_out_of_the_mud_and_astonished_the_world/)

~~~
jusben1369
Pictures or it isn't true!

~~~
joezydeco
Here's my grandmother's old neighborhood in the near southwest part of the
city (Pilsen):

[http://goo.gl/maps/OlFm7](http://goo.gl/maps/OlFm7)

You can see where the sidewalks enter on the _second_ floor of these flats and
the original ground level entrance is now below street level.

We had lots of fun goofing around in the "cave" down on the first floor.

~~~
selectodude
It's very bizarre seeing a street view from a block away from where I live on
HN.

~~~
joezydeco
Sorry, that's where GMaps put the center of Pilsen. I can update the link if
you want... =)

(ObGmapsWeirdThing: My wife and kids were outside on the driveway when the
google cameras went by. Now I can see them all the time, staring back at me
with their blurred faces...)

------
phon
This practice was not unique to the City of Chicago.

The city of Naples was rebuilt at great expense after the a terrible cholera
epidemic in 1884 carried off a large number of victims. In response the
government funded major effort to raise the city's streets as proscribed by
the then current Miasmatic Theory of Disease. The thinking was along of the
lines of low lying 'bad air' caused illnesses and thus the raising of the
city's infrastructure would improve the general health.

Details:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miasma_theory_of_disease](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miasma_theory_of_disease)

------
speedracr
Definitely listen to the Freakonomics podcast on Chicago's quintessential role
in developing the US as a country and economic giant - well worth the 30min or
so, and based on a book by Thomas Dyja:
[http://freakonomics.com/2013/08/15/the-middle-of-
everywhere-...](http://freakonomics.com/2013/08/15/the-middle-of-everywhere-a-
new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/)

------
sp332
Chicago was recently used as an example of a city that is so paved over it
can't drain properly.
[http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/05/way-w...](http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/05/way-
we-build-cities-making-them-flood/5590/) I wonder if that's a valid
interpretation, given its natural drainage problems?

~~~
joezydeco
Curious why that article didn't mention Deep Tunnel. It's our 50-year project
to dig massive drainage systems and underground reservoirs to hold the
emergency storm runoff. We're..hmm..15 years away from being done!

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_and_Reservoir_Plan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_and_Reservoir_Plan)

------
malandrew
Where are the technical details on how this was accomplished? The wikipedia
article said what was done, but didn't go into how.

All the references appear to be just newspaper articles or some layman's
explanation. Are there any meaty technical discussions of these
accomplishments, especially the raising on an entire city block.

------
mortenjorck
This is totally fascinating, but I'm still not sure I get the infrastructural
context. Were traditional storm sewers impractical for Chicago at the time
specifically because of the city's elevation?

~~~
jofer
Yep. You need a slope to get water to flow. The city is effectively at lake
level. Having a storm sewer doesn't do you much good if the water can't go
anywhere.

~~~
arethuza
Another city with similar problems is Berlin, I was there recently and I was
puzzled by the crazy pipes all through the centre of the city.

Turns out that the ground water level in Berlin is really high so all
construction sites (and there are huge number of these in Berlin) need to pump
out the water from excavations which explains the pipes everywhere.

[http://robertherrmann.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/the-fancy-
tub...](http://robertherrmann.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/the-fancy-tubes-of-
berlin/)

------
cfesta9
Here are a few great Chicago resources. Archive of photos here:
[http://chicagopast.com/](http://chicagopast.com/) Video Archives here:
[http://mediaburn.org/](http://mediaburn.org/) This is a personal favorite:
Chicago Culture "sitting on the front stoop" enjoy!
[http://mediaburn.org/video/ben-hollis-stoop-talk-1-for-
weeke...](http://mediaburn.org/video/ben-hollis-stoop-talk-1-for-weekend-tv/)

------
chrismealy
People interested in economics, history, Chicago, or the midwest in general
should definitely check out "Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West"
by William Cronon.

------
mapt
Galveston underwent a similar transition of two stories after the catastrophic
damage of a hurricane in the year 1900, in order that it would never be
vulnerable again†

†Unless the city expanded outside the elevated seawall, which it did... for a
time. Predictably, another hurricane has corrected this oversight recently.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galveston,_Texas#Hurricane_of_1...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galveston,_Texas#Hurricane_of_1900_and_recovery)

------
dspeyer
So Undertown _does_ exist?

~~~
dkuntz2
Kinda. While Butcher fictionalizes is, and expands on the truth, there are
many tunnels throughout the city, and it's possible to traverse most of the
loop underground.

Plus there's good ole Wacker drive...

~~~
jgroszko
And it's always exciting when those tunnels flood...
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_flood](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_flood)

------
swamp40
I just saw a great picture of this from 1885:
[http://calumet412.com/post/58699298036/street-grade-
elevatio...](http://calumet412.com/post/58699298036/street-grade-elevation-
work-at-an-undisclosed)

------
onedognight
Anyone know why Venice, Italy hasn't undertaken a similar plan?

~~~
eCa
There have been plans/proposals to refill the aquifer under Venice [1].

The construction of the Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico (or MOSE) that is
meant to be raised in times of high water started back in 2003 [2].

[1]
[http://www.geotimes.org/mar04/geophen.html](http://www.geotimes.org/mar04/geophen.html)

[2]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOSE_Project](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOSE_Project)

------
lettergram
You missed the reversing of the Chicago river...

