A summer picnic in Michigan City
In the summer of 1915, Western Electric held its yearly employee picnic in Michigan City, Indiana. Thousands of workers from the company’s Hawthorne Works, a large plant in Cicero, Illinois, planned to make a day of it with their families. They would get there by boat, across Lake Michigan.
The company chartered five lake steamers for the trip. One of them was the Eastland, a passenger steamer built in the early 1900s that carried excursion crowds out of Chicago.
The picnic was set for Saturday, July 24, 1915. People came early in the morning, ready for a day out. Many of the workers came from immigrant families.
What happened at the dock
The Eastland was tied up on the south bank of the Chicago River, between Clark and LaSalle streets. Boarding started early in the morning. By about 7:30, roughly 2,500 people were aboard.
Then, still tied to the dock, the ship rolled over onto its side in the river.
At least 844 people died. Many were young women and children, and some families were lost entirely. It remains the deadliest shipwreck in Great Lakes history. It happened right at the dock, before the ship ever left for Michigan City.
Why it rolled over
The Eastland was top-heavy, and it did not take much to unsettle it. After the Titanic sank in 1912, new safety rules required more lifeboats on passenger ships. On the Eastland, the added lifeboats and rafts put still more weight up high, where it made the ship less stable. Historians also point to how the crew handled the water ballast tanks that morning.
Ballast tanks sit low in a ship’s hull and hold water. Filling or emptying them changes how steadily a ship rides. On a boat that is already heavy up top, with a big crowd moving around on the decks, the margin for error is small. That combination, not any single mistake, is how most accounts explain the disaster.
Investigations and a federal court case followed. The ship itself was righted and raised from the river. The U.S. Navy later bought it, converted it into a gunboat and training ship, and renamed it USS Wilmette. It spent years training naval reservists on the Great Lakes before it was sold for scrap in 1946.
The memorial in Michigan City
The picnic never happened, but Michigan City did not forget the people who were coming. On the grounds of the Old Lighthouse Museum stands an anchor chain made of 844 links, one for each person who died. A historical marker beside it tells the story. Walking the length of the chain gives a sense of how many people 844 really is.
The museum has held memorial ceremonies near the July anniversary in recent years. They have included a memorial service and a wreath laid on Trail Creek.
What people say in Chicago
Disasters this large tend to leave stories behind. In Chicago, the legend goes that people near the river by the Clark Street Bridge sometimes see faces in the water. These are ghost stories, reported by local storytellers and paranormal groups. They are stories, not history. What they show, more than anything, is how deeply the city still feels the loss more than a century later.
Remembering the Eastland
You can see the 844-link chain on the grounds of the Old Lighthouse in Michigan City. It is a quiet spot, and a good place to stop and think about the families who set out that morning for a day at the lake. The Michigan City Historical Society posts news about the museum and its memorial events.
For more on the town and the lake, see our Michigan City and Lake Michigan pages, or browse more local history.
Questions
Where was the Eastland going?
To Michigan City, Indiana, for the Western Electric employee picnic. It rolled over in the Chicago River before it left the dock.
How many people died in the Eastland disaster?
At least 844 people died. It is the deadliest shipwreck in Great Lakes history.
What is the Eastland memorial in Michigan City?
An anchor chain of 844 links, one for each person who died, on the grounds of the Old Lighthouse Museum.
Why did the Eastland capsize?
The ship was top-heavy. Extra lifeboats added after the Titanic put more weight up high, and historians also point to how the ballast tanks were handled that morning.
Sources: National Archives at Chicago: Eastland disaster records · Encyclopaedia Britannica: Eastland disaster · Smithsonian Magazine: The Eastland disaster killed more passengers than the Titanic · U.S. Coast Guard: 1915 Eastland (history reading) · WTTW: The Eastland disaster · Historical Marker Database: Eastland memorial, Old Lighthouse · Michigan City Historical Society: Eastland memorial ceremony · Naval History and Heritage Command: Wilmette · Chicago Sun-Times: Eastland disaster victims remembered (2026)