shipwreck of the passenger liner S.S. Eastland on the Chicago River in Chicago on July 24, 1915. The event ranks as one of the worst maritime disasters in American history. It also is among the city's deadliest catastrophes: hundreds more lives were lost in the Eastland disaster than in the Chicago fire of 1871.

Early on the morning of July 24, thousands of people gathered in the rain for the fifth annual picnic for the employees of the Western Electric Company (Western Electric Company Inc.). The workers were being taken on a retreat that began with a boat ride from Chicago across Lake Michigan (Michigan, Lake) to Michigan City, Ind. About 6:30 AM, passengers began boarding the Eastland—built in 1902 and known as the “Speed Queen of the Great Lakes”—which was docked in downtown Chicago. The vessel began listing, and the ship's crew let water into the ship's ballast tanks to even out the imbalance. But the ship continued to list, and, as it moved away from the dock, it slowly rolled over and sank, trapping many of the approximately 2,500 passengers inside. At least 844 people were crushed or drowned.

Many still speculate about the cause of the Eastland's sinking. It is possible that the ship's ballast system was not adequate, and its narrow design may have contributed to its demise. Additional lifeboats and rafts that the ship was carrying—the result of a new law passed after the Titanic catastrophe three years earlier—may have made the craft top-heavy.