Everyday, about 1,000 folks find their way to ForgottenChicago.com, a leading online-appreciator of infrastructure in the United States. The website was founded in late 2007, with a genuine goal of opening people’s eyes to the Windy City’s once-great bridges, roads, and buildings now hiding in plain sight.

According to co-founder Jacob Kaplan, the inspiration came in part from similar sites focused on other cities, such as New York and St. Louis. “Why isn’t there one in Chicago?” asked Kaplan, remembering his surprise that his city — which boasts some of the most prized engineering and architecture in the nation — wasn’t represented.

On the website you’ll find resources, details on education opportunities and preservation, and six editorial sections packed with wonderful feature stories and troves of photographs about the forgotten. Below are four excerpts and photos from pieces found within the Infrastructure section. Each piece was written by Serhii Chrucky, who, along with Kaplan, Corinnè Aquino, and Mike Damian, founded the website. To learn more (and to remember), visit ForgottenChicago.com.

“Chicago’s Civil Engineer in the 1850s, Samuel Greeley, was enthusiastically in favor of Nicolson pavement, writing in an 1859 Tribune article: ‘Wooden pavement…might have great advantages in a city, where suitable stone was scarce, where lumber was the great staple of the market, and where the foundation was new and yielding.’” — from “Wood Block Alleys,” photo courtesy Nicolson Pavement, 1859. “The definitive S-Curve photograph, taken from the Prudential building in 1963 by the venerable Charles Cushman.” — from “Lake Shore Drive Redux,” photo courtesy Charles Cushman, “The area surrounding the intersection of Ogden and Clybourn has changed quite a bit since 1972. Every street within the boundaries of North, Halsted, Evergreen, and Larrabee are gone, with the exception of Ogden and Clybourn….This part of Ogden, in its current state, is merely a remnant.” — from “312 ‘72” the site’s first “street necrology.” “The Taylor Street bridge existed longer as a concept than as a physical reality. Citizens of the Near West Side pushed the issue of bridging Taylor street starting in the 1850s, and the Board of Public Works had plans prepared as early as 1874. However, there were no results from any of these early efforts.” — from “Bridge Out For Good”