Chicago - Raised & Burnt
Raised on Jackscrews, Reversed the River, Crime Capital, Nolan’s Gotham
Shikkakwa = onion/skunk in a native tongue. In 1803, when the US bought half the country from the French for 4 cents an acre (Louisiana Purchase), Fort “Dearborn” was built here. It was later brought down by a coalition of Native Americans and the British.
Raising the City on Jackscrews
The city was a stinky, muddy mess due to its low elevation and high water table. Stagnant water caused multiple typhoid, dysentery, and cholera outbreaks. After cholera killed 6% of the city, they decided to raise the entire city. The first building: 4 stories tall, 680 tons heavy in stone, was raised 6 feet high on 200 jackscrews.
Between 1855-75, most buildings were raised 4-14 feet on thousands of jackscrews, while new foundations were laid and streets were raised. Older wood buildings were put on rollers and pulled by horses out of the city while doing business as the buildings moved.
Fire
In 1871, it was the railway capital & fastest-growing city in America. A fire that started in October was fueled by the strong winds and the timber stored throughout the city, and burned down a third of the city, displacing 100,000.
After the fire, architects & developers from around the country arrived to work on the clean slate left behind. This led to Chicago becoming the city of architecture. Architects used fireproof terra cotta, steel, and stone. Burnt debris was used to fill Lake Michigan and expand the city.
Reversing the River
Lake Michigan, the source of drinking water for Chicago, remained filthy due to sewage flowing through the Chicago River. To address this, in 1899, it was decided to reverse the flow of the river by building a deeper canal and connecting it to the Mississippi River, while massive locks prevented Lake Michigan from draining. The city of St Louis sued Chicago in the Supreme Court, which was dismissed. Today, the Chicago River flows towards the Mississippi River, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico.
Crime Capital of America
When the US banned alcohol (yes!) in the 1920s, many gangsters got into the new lucrative black market. Al Capone (Scarface) was the most popular one, who had nationwide networks, bribing and threatening police and politicians. With the entire police dept corrupt, Elliot Ness, a prohibition agent, formed a handpicked group of clean officers, later named “The Untouchables”, hunting down Al Capone and other bootleggers. Finally, Al Capone was convicted of tax fraud on the charge that he did not file taxes on his illegal income, and was thrown in jail.
New legislation like the RICO Act was introduced to catch the gangsters of the 70s, cleaning up America. In The Dark Knight, Harvey uses RICO to arrest hundreds of gangsters at once. Even today, corruption is quite rampant in Chicago, with 37 of their 50 current aldermen having a prison history. O-block, a neighborhood of Chicago, is world famous for gang violence.
Nolan’s Gotham City
Chicago became Gotham in Nolan’s Batman series. The elevated train of Batman Begins, runs around Chicago with less CGI. Wayne Tower is the Board of Trade Building. There’s even a water tower with exposed water pipes inside, waiting for Ra’s Al Ghul.
Architecture Against the Wind
The curvy building is the tallest building designed by a female architect. It has liquid dampers: like massive bathtubs with computerized controls to offset swaying from Chicago’s extreme winds. But after building, the sway was still noticeable with toilet water sloshing. Hence they left two stories open, allowing wind to flow through.
Trump Tower is the “elephant in the room” in the middle of Chicago, with “TRUMP” spanning two stories. The innovations developed for this tower were then used to build Burj Khalifa.
Some buildings are built with an exoskeleton of criss-crossing steel beams transferring wind loads to the ground.
