New footage sheds light on "Eastland" disaster
Footage from the 1915 wreck of the Eastland on the Chicago river. The ship sank in July 1915 and killed 844 people heading for a company picnic.
The footage was included in Dutch newsreels of the time and housed at the EYE Film Instituut Nederland. University of Illinois Chicago graduate student Jeff Nichols came across the two film segments while working on his doctoral dissertation.
New footage from 1915 disaster
Footage from the 1915 wreck of the Eastland on the Chicago river. The ship sank in July 1915 and killed 844 people heading for a company picnic.
The footage was included in Dutch newsreels of the time and housed at the EYE Film Instituut Nederland. University of Illinois Chicago graduate student Jeff Nichols came across the two film segments while working on his doctoral dissertation.
New footage from 1915 disaster
Footage from the 1915 wreck of the Eastland on the Chicago river. The ship sank in July 1915 and killed 844 people heading for a company picnic.
The footage was included in Dutch newsreels of the time and housed at the EYE Film Instituut Nederland. University of Illinois Chicago graduate student Jeff Nichols came across the two film segments while working on his doctoral dissertation.
New footage from 1915 disaster
Footage from the 1915 wreck of the Eastland on the Chicago river. The ship sank in July 1915 and killed 844 people heading for a company picnic.
The footage was included in Dutch newsreels of the time and housed at the EYE Film Instituut Nederland. A University of Illinois Chicago graduate student came across the two film segments while working on his doctoral dissertation.
New footage from 1915 disaster
Footage from the 1915 wreck of the Eastland on the Chicago river. The ship sank in July 1915 and killed 844 people heading for a company picnic.
The footage was included in Dutch newsreels of the time and housed at the EYE Film Instituut Nederland. A University of Illinois Chicago graduate student came across the two film segments while working on his doctoral dissertation.
New footage from 1915 disaster
Footage from the 1915 wreck of the Eastland on the Chicago river. The ship sank in July 1915 and killed 844 people heading for a company picnic.
The footage was included in Dutch newsreels of the time and housed at the EYE Film Instituut Nederland. A University of Illinois Chicago graduate student came across the two film segments while working on his doctoral dissertation.
New footage from 1915 disaster
Footage from the 1915 wreck of the Eastland on the Chicago river. The ship sank in July 1915 and killed 844 people heading for a company picnic.
The footage was included in Dutch newsreels of the time and housed at the EYE Film Instituut Nederland. University of Illinois Chicago graduate student Jeff Nichols came across the two film segments while working on his doctoral dissertation.
New footage from 1915 disaster
Footage from the 1915 wreck of the Eastland on the Chicago river. The ship sank in July 1915 and killed 844 people heading for a company picnic.
The footage was included in Dutch newsreels of the time and housed at the EYE Film Instituut Nederland. University of Illinois Chicago graduate student Jeff Nichols came across the two film segments while working on his doctoral dissertation.
New footage from 1915 disaster
Footage from the 1915 wreck of the Eastland on the Chicago river. The ship sank in July 1915 and killed 844 people heading for a company picnic.
The footage was included in Dutch newsreels of the time and housed at the EYE Film Instituut Nederland. A University of Illinois Chicago graduate student came across the two film segments while working on his doctoral dissertation.
New footage from 1915 disaster
Footage from the 1915 wreck of the Eastland on the Chicago river. The ship sank in July 1915 and killed 844 people heading for a company picnic.
The footage was included in Dutch newsreels of the time and housed at the EYE Film Instituut Nederland. A University of Illinois Chicago graduate student came across the two film segments while working on his doctoral dissertation.
New footage from 1915 disaster
Passengers are rescued as they stand atop the Eastland passenger ship after the vessel capsized in the Chicago River in downtown Chicago, July 24, 1915.
Film clips have surfaced of the 1915 disaster that left 844 people dead. The first-known footage of the Eastland disaster was spotted by Jeff Nichols, a doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Chicago who was looking through seemingly unrelated material on World War I.
New footage from 1915 disaster
Rescue and recovery efforts are shown on the SS Eastland excursion boat, which was chartered to take thousands of Western Electric Company's employees to a picnic but capsized just 20 feet from the wharf at Chicago, Ill., July 24, 1915.
The death toll was 844, seventy percent of them under age 25.
New footage from 1915 disaster
Passengers are rescued as they stand atop the Eastland passenger ship after the vessel capsized in the Chicago River in downtown Chicago, July 24, 1915.
Roberto Fornero
Roberto Fornero (left) is one of the 844 who died when the ship sank at the dock. The Eastland Disaster Historical Society tells the story of several of the victims as well as on their Facebook page.
Charles Bender
Charles Benderworked at a grocery store located close to the Western Electric Hawthorne plant in Cicero, Illinois. His body was found under a piano in the ship's wreckage.
Bessie Dvorak
Bessie Dvorak was 21 years old and working at Western Electric when the ship sank.
Dvorak was known to be a good swimmer but marks on her body suggest that she was dragged under as people saw that she could swim.
The Eastland Disaster Historical Society tells the story of many of the people who were there in July 1915.