Eastland Ship Disaster Chicago July 1915--100 years ago

Newly discovered photographs of the Eastland disaster in Chicago 100 years ago. The Eastland was the first of 5 boats chartered for a 2-hour cruise across the tip of Lake Michigan to Indiana for a company picnic sponsored by Western Electric. 7000 employees of the W. E. Hawthorne plant descended on Chicago to partake in this rare outing. The Eastland was unstable as a vessel and had had trouble before. It flipped over so quickly, people had little warning, and 844 of them died, mostly from suffocation rather than drowning.  

More details are at the Eastland Disaster website at http://www.eastlanddisaster.org/.  

Credit for the photo and details goes to the Eastland Disaster Historical Society.

Commemorating the Eastland Disaster: 100 Year AnniversaryOne hundred years ago this week, the SS Eastland sank in the Chicago River. Nearly 100 newly found photos from the Chicago Tribune offer a new look at...chicagotonight.wttw.com

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