No, that shouldn't be "razing". In the 19th century, Chicago was literally raised several feet off the ground. During the mid to late 1800s, the city of Chicago was very low-lying, not much higher than the shoreline of Lake Michigan. Consequently, sanitation and drainage in the city was poor and outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and dysentery were common. The solution? A new, city-wide sewerage system. But in order for it to work properly, the entire city would need to be lifted up to six feet higher than its original elevation. Say what you like about the Victorians, they were certainly ambitious. Rather than dismissing this idea as ludicrous, they promptly set about hitching the city's buildings, shopping centres, hotels and even sidewalks up on hydraulic jacks. The inhabitants of Chicago simply carried on with their lives whilst all of this was going on, and many of them barely even noticed, with one guest at a hotel one day noting to his puzzlement that the steps to the front door appeared to be getting a bit steeper. The hotel, which was the tallest building in Chicago at that point, had in fact been lifted a full six feet off the ground.
