July 10, 2010 – (Above) Jerome Teigne, a freelance videographer, shoots from a west tower balcony at Marina City toward the site of the 1915 Eastland disaster. A video crew was at Marina City on Saturday, capturing video for a long-running series on French public television. (Click on image to view larger version.)

On July 24, 1915, the S.S. Eastland was docked at the Clark Street Bridge with more than 2,500 passengers when it rolled over, killing more than 800 people including 22 entire families. The Eastland was one of five excursion boats taking employees of Western Electric across Lake Michigan for a company picnic.

One of the first police officers on the scene was John B. McFarlane, who helped with rescue and then recovery efforts. His daughter, Betty Hogeorges, now lives in a west tower unit that overlooks the site of the disaster.

Also working with the video crew is Ted Wachholz, Executive Director of the Eastland Disaster Historical Society. On Thursday, Wachholz and the crew photographed a steamship at a museum in Michigan built around the same time as the Eastland. He says it looked very similar and gave them a sense of how big the Eastland was.

“The Eastland ran the entire width of the block and it was about four and a half stories tall, which dwarfs any ship you’ll see out here today,” says Wachholz. “To see a ship coming through the river today, that large, would draw some attention.”

 Web site: Eastland Disaster Historical Society