Chicago Riverwalk

The Chicago Riverwalk's River Theater occupies the south edge of the Chicago River between Clark Street Bridge and LaSalle Street Bridge. On an ordinary day, its broad steps function as open-air seating: people sit almost at the water's edge, while small events unfold in front of them. This stretch of bank once had a dock, which can no longer be seen. A small memorial plaque by LaSalle Street Bridge recalls its vanished past.

Between Clark Street Bridge and LaSalle Street Bridge, the steps of the Chicago Riverwalk descend from the upper level of Wacker Drive to the water. This section is called River Theater: the staircase serves as seating for small events and lets people sit right by the river. On the morning of July twenty-fourth, nineteen fifteen, the excursion steamer Eastland was moored at this same south bank.

Workers from Western Electric's Hawthorne Works plant and their families came aboard. In the suburb of Cicero, they assembled telephone equipment and worked six days a week. The annual picnic in Michigan City offered a rare day off: a ticket cost a dollar, or seventy-five cents if bought in advance. The company chartered five vessels; Eastland was to leave first.

The steamer had already shown that it was dangerous. After alterations, it became too top-heavy, nearly capsized in nineteen oh four, and listed badly two years later. New owners bought it in nineteen fourteen, having barely examined its earlier service. Then regulations adopted after the sinking of Titanic took effect: passenger vessels were required to carry more lifeboats and rafts. They were placed on top of Eastland, but no tests were conducted with the additional weight.

Federal inspectors stood by the gangway and counted passengers. They allowed the steamer to be filled to its set limit—about two and a half thousand people, not counting part of the crew. Many women with children went down into the cabins. While boarding continued, Eastland began to lean away from the dock, then briefly righted itself. At about seven thirty, water began entering through open passageways and portholes. Within minutes, the vessel rolled onto its port side, without ever leaving the shore.

People from the upper deck managed to get out onto the side that was now on top. Passengers below found themselves in overturned cabins under water. The river here was only about twenty feet deep, and the dock was just several meters away, but eight hundred forty-four people died. Twenty-two families were wiped out entirely.

Company nurse Helen Repa was supposed to sail on the next steamer and reached the river when rescuers were already pulling people out through portholes. She climbed onto the overturned hull, then went to an overcrowded hospital. Repa instructed someone to request five hundred blankets from Marshall Field & Company, arranged hot food with restaurants, and stopped cars in the street to send the lightly injured home. She left here only at about four in the afternoon.

The criminal case against the owners, the captain, and the ship's engineer ended without a verdict. Civil litigation continued for about two decades. The court limited liability to the value of the raised steamer, and that money went to the salvage companies and other creditors. The families of those who died received no compensation.

Neither the dock nor Eastland is here any longer. Its place along the south bank is occupied by the Chicago Riverwalk's River Theater, and above, by LaSalle Street Bridge, a small memorial plaque has been installed. It marks the stretch of water that now serves as a stage in front of the steps.