Eastland
Notorious Chicago | Eastland | Iroquois | Streeterville | Haymarket | Everleigh | Lady Elgin
The heaviest, in loss of life, of all the disasters which ever struck Chicago, was that of the steamship Eastland, which sank at its moorings in the Chicago River on 24 July 1915, and drowned 812 persons. As on the case of the Iroquois Theatre fire, the victims were merrymakers on a holiday, and most of them were women and children.
The Eastland had been chartered by the Western Electric Company to take its employees, their families and friends, on an excursion. The boat was tied up at the south bank of the Chicago River at the foot of LaSalle Street. There was no bridge across the river at that point as it was a favorite loading point.
The excursions went early and in great numbers and about 2,000 persons were aboard when the time drew near for the boat to leave the dock. Most of them were crowded on the upper deck, making the boat top heavy. Also the engineer had pumped out a great deal of water ballast, which aggravated this condition. When the cables had been cast off and the crowd was waving its farewells to those on shore, the Eastland rolled over away from the dock, pitching those on the open deck into twenty feet of water, and imprisoning the remainder under the boat.
The loss of life might easily have been twice as heavy, but the disaster occurred in broad daylight, on a warm day, and with many men near at hand the rescue. Only three crew members died primarily because they know what to do when a ship capsizes – passengers do not.
As in the case of the Iroquois, nobody ever was held responsible for the loss of life. The name of the Eastland was changed and it continued in service on the Great Lakes.
Image taken by a Chicago Daily News photographer were published in the newspaper between July 24-August 13, 1915.
DN-0064935, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago Historical Society.
