In 1904, Galveston, Texas, began raising much of the city. Crews jacked up more than 2,000 buildings as dredges pumped sand beneath them. When the last cubic yard went in on August 8, 1910, St. Patrick’s Church stood 5 feet higher, lifted on 700 jacks.

In 1904, Galveston, Texas, began raising much of the city. Crews jacked up more than 2,000 buildings as dredges pumped sand beneath them. When the last cubic yard went in on August 8, 1910, St. Patrick’s Church stood 5 feet higher, lifted on 700 jacks.

One of history's most audacious engineering feats—raising an entire American city to escape the sea—succeeded so completely that almost nobody remembers it.