They lifted the whole city up in the air.
Between four and fourteen feet. Buildings, streets and all. Straight up, using hydraulic jacks and jackscrews.
It was a titanic feat of engineering, imagination and sheer moxie. And it might just say a lot about that early Chicago character.
... buildings were lifted up using jackscrews and the occasional hydraulic lift. And we’re not just talking houses. Entire masonry buildings were raised in the air. Eventually, they even figured out how to raise an entire block at once. They placed 6000 jackscrews under the one-acre block between Lake, Clark and LaSalle streets, estimated at 35,000 tons in weight, and raised the whole thing over four days—buildings, sidewalks and all. The process was gradual enough that business continued in the buildings throughout.
Not every building went through the process. Not because it was too difficult, but because some of the buildings no longer fit with where the city was going. But waste not, want not. They put these old wooden buildings on rollers and drew them by horse to the edges of town. Of course, the enterprising owners of businesses operating in these buildings didn’t want to miss out on business, so many continued to serve customers even as the buildings were rolling down the street.[ed. Man, they really got things done back then. See also: American water is too clean (WIP).]
