The Eastland was a steamship that ferried people from Chicago to picnic sites on the shores of Lake Michigan. the steamer was built in 1903 and was designed to carry 650 passengers. In 1913 it was retrofitted to carry about 2,500 people. this same year, the owner of the ship - St. Joseph Chicago Steamship Company were told by architects that needed to fix defects to prevent the steamer from Listing or it would cause future problems. This warning was ignored. July 2, 2015 the steamer had more lifeboats and several rafts put on it because there was a new Bill passed because of the Titanic's tragedy. this added 14 tons to the top of the Eastland, which was already top-heavy to begin with. Three weeks later, disaster hits.
July 24, 1915, employees of Western Electric Company hired several steamers to take employees on their annual company picnic. they were all headed to Michigan City, Indiana. About 7,300 people arried at the docks between LaSalle and Clark Streets in downtown Chicago to head out to their picnic site. Bands were playing in the streets, families were getting excited. It was a big deal for the company.
I started to do some digging and found a contact with his family through one of his brothers. A member of that family started to tell me all about Frank - more than anyone knew! Frank worked for Western Electric and they lived in Berwyn. They were there when the disaster happened. Blanche was born January 1914, so she was 1 1/2 years old when the disaster happened. Blanche had a brother too, Frank Jr and he was 7 months old. The story is that they were about to get on the boat when it capsized. So I imagine that Philemona took care of Blanche and Frank Jr since they were both infants, while we're told Frank began to help rescue people. The family never knew this story! Can you imagine? All that was passed down was the Frank had left. No one knew why. After emailing with this contact, we found out that Frank actually had checked himself into a hospital for probably depression after all he saw - friends and co-workers all dead - and it could have been him, his wife, his children! After all, Frank was only 22 years old at the time of the accident! After he left the hospital, he never went back to his family - whether it was shame or time gone by, he left instead and headed to Indiana. i can't even imagine what he experienced. Philemona eventually remarried. About 2,500 people were boarding the Eastland. There were mixed reports in the beginning cause of the accident. Not known to the passengers of the potential listing problems because of the design of the steamer - many people were noted to be gathering on just one side of the steamer, because they were posing for photographs as the steamer pushed away from the docks. With all the people and the extra weight of the life boats the steamer list to the port side, which allowed water to start pouring in the starboard side. the engineer on the steamer opened one of the ballast tanks which hold water with in the steamer and helps stabilizes the ship, however the Eastland still began to tip - hence quickly capsizing the boat. The boat capsizing in only 20 feet deep of water, but deep enough to kill over 800 people.
The Eastland then overturned in the Chicago River still close to the dock. It trapped hundreds of people that fell under the ship as it tipped and trapped people inside as well. Rescuers quickly attempted to help people from the river. Many of these rescuers were coworkers that had not boarded yet. Many more rescuers quickly attempted to cut through the hull with torches. By working quickly they were able to rescue about 40 people from inside the Eastland; however about 800-850 people were killed by drowning. this was such a horrible tragedy in history. Families were just getting ready to set out on a fun ship ride for a work family picnic. Now whole families were gone; 22 to be exact! One family had 8 members completely lost, including 5 children.
Fireman trying to rescue children
This disaster didn't just affect people on the ship, but their rescuers and coworkers. It wsa such a terrible sight. Police divers pulled out body after body, causing many divers to break down emotionally. The city of Chicago sent their workers with large nets to help keep the bodies from floating out into the lake! They had to make a make-shift morgue at the Second Regiment Armory, which is in modern days known to be the Harpo Studios for Oprah Winfrey. As a side note, some of her employees thought the studio was haunted because of this fact!
One would think that because the steamer company was warned that this could happen, it is unconscionable that after the many lawsuits filed that they were all thrown out by the court of appeals. In the beginning a grand jury indicted the president and three officers of the steamship company for manslaughter, and the ship's captain for criminal carelessness. Testimony was given on the instability of the ship. the court refused extradition because Michigan and Illinois was involved. The court felt that because the ship had made many other trips, that they couldn't be held accountable for the reasons given. Now sits an over turned steamer in the river, now what? The Eastland was actually pulled out of the river and converted to a naval ship. It was renamed the USS Wilmette. After WWII the ship was turned to scrap. I can't even imagine being in that ship after such a tragedy.
Following the disaster, it was time to bury the dead. The towns of Cicero and Berwyn were hit the hardest because this is where the company was located and most of the employees lived there. "By a decree of the Cicero Town Board, July 28 was set aside as the day for town wide funeral. All stores and plants were ordered closed at 9 a.m." recalled Frank Houdek The Hawthorne Work's gates were draped in mourning for those employees who died. (Printed in the Eastland Disaster by Ted Wachholz). Frank Houdek is the family member I was researching at the time. I'll speak more of him later. Now, there were so many dead, the towns ran out of caskets and carriages to perform the funerals. Marshall Fields & Company loaned out 39 of their trucks to help take caskets to cemeteries, along with many other stores. One church alone had 29 parishioners that died. they lined the caskets in rows in the front of the church for a large funeral for them all. Not only did Cicero declare July 28 for town wide funeral, City of Chicago declared it for a day of mourning because of the impact it had on everyone.
Now for the personal side of why i tell this tragic story. I mentioned Frank Houdek above in a quote. He was the man I was looking for in the family tree many years ago. My children's Great Grandmother was Blanche Houdek. Her father was a mystery, he had thought at the time to have just left his family. No one really knew why or the story behind it all. So I decided to work on this part of the family tree and find what happened. Blanche's Mother and father were Frank & Philemona (Hondlik) Houdek. They had separated when the children were young, but that is all that was known. Even his name at the beginning we didn't know.
I started to do some digging and found a contact with his family through one of his brothers. A member of that family started to tell me all about Frank - more than anyone knew! Frank worked for Western Electric and they lived in Berwyn. They were there when the disaster happened. Blanche was born January 1914, so she was 1 1/2 years old when this disaster happened. Blanche had a brother too, who was Frank Jr and was 7 months old. The story is that they were about to get on the boat when it capsized. So I imagine that Philemona took care of Blanche and Frank Jr since they were both infants, while we're told frank began to help rescue people. The family never knew this story! Can you imagine? all that was passed down was the Frank had left. No one knew why. After emailing with this contact, we found out that Frank actually had checked himself into a hospital for probably depression after all he saw and had been through. All the friends and co-workers all dead - and it could have been him, his wife, his children! After all, Frank was only 22 at the time of the accident! After he left the hospital, he never went back to his family - whether it was shame or time gone by, he left instead and headed to Indiana. I can't even imagine what he experienced. Philemona eventually remarried.
Frank lived to be 74 years old. It is unfortunate that he never came back to see his children. All family ties were broken. The contact sent us photos of him in his later years. I was told he lived like a recluse and like solitude. I'm sure this story is similar to others that experienced this horrible disaster in Chicago history. When I heard about this story - I bought the Images Across America - Eastland Disaster and while reading it came across the quote from above in this article that actually came from Frank Houdek. I was so surprised! It's a story that should be taught, just as the titanic has been. I see my children's Great Great Grandfather as a hero in helping all that he did and the sacrifices he made. At the same time tragic because his family were left behind. I really wish I found this information while his daughter, Blanche was still living, so she would have known the story. However, her children and all the other generations will know the larger part of the story. whe I see photos from the accident or video footage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU-M7zuyxAI ) you wonder if he's in any of those photos.
So next time you are in downtown Chicago at LaSalle & Clark - Have a moment of silence for the lost souls of the Eastland disaster.
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