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100th Anniversary of the Eastland Disaster

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Amy Tikkanen
Amy Tikkanen is Managing Editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Amy Tikkanen
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Eastland disaster infographic, July 24, 1915, Chicago, Illinois. shipwreck. Use for BTN/SPT.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Patrick O'Neill Riley

An annual picnic outing for the employees of the Western Electric Company turned tragic on July 24, 1915, when the boat that was to take them from Chicago to Michigan City, Indiana, capsized. At least 844 people died in what was one of the worst maritime disasters in American history.

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