Ellis S. Chesbrough

Ellis Sylvester Chesbrough (1813–1886) was an engineer credited with the design of the Chicago sewer system, which are sometimes known as the 'Chesbrough sewers'. This was the first comprehensive sewer system in the United States. He is responsible for the plan to raise Chicago, reversing the Chicago River, and designing the Boston water distribution system.

In the late 1840s, Chicago was growing rapidly and was plagued with health issues: the majority of the city sat at water level, which meant water was unable to drain out of the city. The problem was fully realized in the summer of 1849, when a cholera epidemic struck Chicago. In response, the public held meetings and demanded that the City Council rid the city of filth. The legislature of Illinois created the Board of Sewerage Commissioners on February 14, 1855, leading to the appointment of Assistant health officers to aid the cleanup, and by August the Council resolved to build a sewage system.

Chesbrough was appointed engineer of the Board of Sewerage Commissioners because of his work on Boston’s water distribution system. From an engineering standpoint, the main problems were moving waste water out of the city and keeping it from flowing into Lake Michigan. His plan was twofold: first, to build the sewer system above ground, and then raise all of the city buildings as much as ten feet using an elaborate system of jacks. The new sewer system featured innovations such as manhole covers, which eased access to and cleaning of the sewers. However, sewage still flowed into the lake and polluted the city's drinking water. In 1864, work began on a two-mile Chicago lake tunnel, sixty feet under the lake, out to a new intake crib. The sewage water eventually seeped all the way to the crib, giving Chesbrough a third chance. Plans were made to reverse the flow of the Chicago River, leading water away from Lake Michigan and carrying Chicago's sewage into the Mississippi River, and in 1889 the Sanitary District of Chicago was created to implement those plans.