LINCOLN SQUARE — Despite its relatively young age as a city, Chicago can lay claim to some mighty impressive achievements.
Chief among them is the reversal of the Chicago River, named a Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
It's doubtful there's a Chicagoan alive who remembers the days when raw sewage flowed into the river, which in turn fed directly into Lake Michigan — the city's source of drinking water.
Turning the river away from the lake was vital to the city's survival and ultimate growth, but how on earth was this massive undertaking, completed in 1900, accomplished?
All will be explained at "Draining Chicago," a discussion led by Richard Lanyon, retired executive director of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.
Join Lanyon at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Sulzer Library, 4455 N. Lincoln Ave. The talk is sponsored by the Ravenswood Lake View Historical Association.
[Wikimedia Commons/United States Geological Survey]
