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About Eastland Disaster Historical Society

The Eastland Disaster is Chicago's greatest loss-of-life tragedy. EDHS passionately preserves and shares the names, faces, and legacies of the tens of thousands of ordinary people who were affected by the tragedy, and we work hard to ensure that these ordinary people win a place in history. We then connect people today to these ordinary people and the history of the tragedy. Early on the morning of Saturday, July 24, 1915, with a light rain falling and the air filled with much anticipation and excitement, thousands were gathering along the Chicago River for Western Electric's fifth annual employee picnic. Over 7,000 tickets had been purchased. The S.S. Eastland, known as the "speed queen of the Great Lakes," was part of a fleet of five excursion boats assigned to take Western Electric employees, their families and friends across Lake Michigan to Michigan City, Indiana, for the day's festivities. But the Eastland, docked at the Clark Street Bridge, never left the Chicago River. It rolled into the river at the wharf's edge with over 2,500 passengers, including crew members, on board. 844 people lost their lives, including 22 entire families.

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