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.
