The Sinking of the Eastland: America's Forgotten Tragedy

On July 24, 1915, over two thousand Western Electric employees and their families boarded the steamship Eastland, which was to ferry them to the annual company picnic in Michigan City--as it sat in port, the ship began to list, then silently capsized as thousands of people looked on in horror, killing eight hundred and forty four people in a maritime disaster that the world has all but forgotten.