Were your Chicago Swedish ancestors involved in Chicago’s worst loss of life?  Join us June 28, 2025 and learn about the history, the response and the aftermath of the Eastland Disaster - 39 Swedes perished.  The Eastland Disaster: An Extraordinary Day in the Lives of Ordinary People Early on the morning of Saturday, July 24, 1915, a light rain fell yet the air was filled with anticipation and excitement. Thousands gathered along the Chicago River for Western Electric's fifth annual employee picnic. More than 7,000 tickets had been purchased for the day‐long festivities. But the day quickly turned tragic, resulting in Chicago's greatest loss‐of-life tragedy – a total of 844 died. This in-person program at the Swedish American Museum of Chicago will be presented by Ted Wachholz of the Eastland Disaster Historical Society.

Ted Wachholz Executive Director and Chief Historian Eastland Disaster Historical Society took a nearly century-old, obscure tragedy and from it spawned the Eastland Disaster Historical Society (EDHS). Now in its twenty-fifth year of operations with Ted as the Executive Director, the Eastland Disaster Historical Society has shared the history and stories of the Eastland Disaster with millions of people in the Chicago metropolitan area, across the country, and around the world.