Posted by Bob G. on July 24, 19100 at 08:02:32:
In case anyone forgot, today is the 85th anniversary of the Eastland Disaster. On this day in the Chicago River an excursion boat with 1300+ Western Electric employees was preparing to sail across Lake Michigan to Michigan City, Indiana, for a company-sponsored picnic. The boat, being extremely unstable, overturned on its side at the dock drowning over 835 people, the worst loss of life in Chicago's history.
Last Saturday I was privileged to sit with two living survivors at a commemorative dinner held by the Eastland Disaster Historical Society (www.eastlanddisaster.org) at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, which presently has a Titanic Exhibit that features the Eastland Disaster as part of the "Chicago Connection." It was an emotional evening. In attendance were many families and descendents of the dead, the survivors and the heroes of the time.
The Eastland was never a shipwreck. While many people died, the Eastland was salvaged and became a naval ship, the USS Wilmette, and then was scrapped after World War II.