Tips
Bumble-Bee
September 15, 2022
Hiking
By the 1860s, Chicago’s water supply was inadequate for its growing population. To solve the problem, Chief Engineer Ellis S. Chesbrough looked to Lake Michigan. Near-shore lake water was too polluted to be used because of runoff from the Chicago River. This prompted an innovative solution. Chesbrough designed a water supply tunnel system running nearly two miles offshore to an intake crib. When the tunnel was completed in 1867, lake water was pumped back to shore through a pumping station. Because the original pumps produced pressure surges and pulsation in the water, a standpipe system was added in 1869.
(architecture.org/learn/resources/buildings-of-chicago/building/chicago-water-tower/)
(architecture.org/learn/resources/buildings-of-chicago/building/chicago-water-tower/)
Karsten S.
April 21, 2022
Hiking
The tower, built of yellowish limestone on North Michigan Avenue in 1869, is one of the few buildings in Chicago to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Architect William …
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November 11, 2023
Hiking
The Chicago Water Tower is the city’s most familiar and treasured landmark. Constructed between 1867 and 1869, it was created for Chicago’s municipal water system, and originally housed a 135 foot iron standpipe used to regulate water pressure. It gained special significance as one of the few buildings to survive the destructive path of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Both the Water Tower and Pumping Station to the east were designed by William W. Boyington, one of Chicago’s most prolific architects of the mid-nineteenth century.
chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/city_gallery_in_thehistoricwatertower.html
chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/city_gallery_in_thehistoricwatertower.html
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