About this property
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, historically known as the Chicago Drainage Canal, is a 32-mile-long (51 km) canal system that connects the Chicago River to the Des Plaines River in Northeast Illinois, US. It reverses the direction of the Main Stem and the South Branch of the Chicago River, which now flows out of Lake Michigan rather than into it. The related Calumet-Sag Channel does the same for the Calumet River, 10 miles to the south, joining the Chicago canal about halfway along its route to the Des Plaines River. The canal was built to solve a public health problem. Prior to its opening in 1900, sewage from the city of Chicago was discharged into the Chicago River and flowed into Lake Michigan. The city's drinking water supply was (and remains) located offshore, and there were fears that the sewage could reach the intake and cause serious disease outbreaks. Since the sewer systems were already flowing into the river, the decision was made to reverse the flow of the river, thereby sending all the sewage inland diluted with lake water, allowing flowing water to assimilate the waste load as it flowed through the canal, Des Plaines River and Illinois River. The building of the Chicago canal served as intensive and practical training for engineers who later built the Panama Canal. The canal is operated by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. In 1999, the system was named a Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The Canal was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 20, 2011.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Historic District
This page lists Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Historic District. A full Aubrey report for an address near it pulls together this listing alongside battlefield records, land patents, and every other historical record within a chosen radius:
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Questions about this property
When was Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Historic District listed on the National Register?
Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 20, 2011.
What type of historic resource is Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Historic District?
Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Historic District is classified as a district in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Historic District?
The period of significance for Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Historic District is recorded as the industrial era, specifically around 1900.
Can I research the history near Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Historic District?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Historic District will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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