How does the growth of a city trample on the evidence of its first steps? Brussels was founded on the banks of the Senne river.  As the city's population increased during the Industrial Revolution, flooding and pollution became an issue. The river had become an open sewer. There was also desire from city's 19th-century leaders to modernize. A decision was made to cover up the river and to replace it with boulevards, drastically changing Brussels’ image and atmosphere. Underground, the river continues to silently meander only surfacing in the outskirts of the city, a shimmer of its previous self.