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Rescue effort after the capsizing of the Eastland.

Eastland Disaster Plaque

Field review by the editors.

Chicago, Illinois

845 Western Electric employees and family members drowned only a few feet from dry land here. Their excursion steamer, the S.S. Eastland, capsized while still at a dock in the Chicago River on July 24, 1915.

Because it was a windy day, a lot of the women and children were below decks, and were crushed by furniture, trapped, and drowned. A plaque on the south end of the LaSalle St. bridge over the River tells the sad tale.

Eastland Disaster Plaque

Address:
LaSalle St., Chicago, IL
Directions:
Downtown, south bank of the Chicago River, on the southeast corner of LaSalle St. and Wacker Drive.
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