The Chicago Lake Tunnel was the first of several tunnels built from the city of Chicago's shore on Lake Michigan two miles out into the lake to access the fresh unpolluted fresh water far from the city's sewage.
In the early decades of its existence, Chicago suffered numerous widespread outbreaks of waterborne diseases. The Chicago Board of Health was organized in 1835 in response to the threat of a cholera epidemic, and later outbreaks of cholera in 1852 and 1854 killed thousands.
In 1863, Ellis S. Chesbrough (1813–1886), the engineer credited with the design of the Chicago sewer system, planned a tunnel five feet wide and lined with brick that would extend through the clay bed of Lake Michigan to a distance of 10,567 feet. Work started in 1864 and the tunnel was opened in 1867.