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Remember the Eastland… and Sell More Insurance!

Author
Natalie Zett
Published
Fri 13 Jun 2025
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In this episode, I explore an aspect of the Eastland Disaster that’s rarely  investigated: the insurance industry’s response. It’s not as dry as it sounds!

We take a deep look at The Insurance Post, an independent trade journal published out of the Royal Insurance Building in Chicago in 1915. This was likely never meant for public eyes—and it offers a stark, often unsettling glimpse into how the insurance industry processed the Eastland tragedy.

📌 In this episode:

  • The surprising hub Chicago was for the early 20th-century insurance industry
  • What the 1915 Insurance Post really said about the Eastland—down to numbers, payouts, and public image
  • A glimpse into how working-class families tried to protect themselves with fraternal insurance
  • The chilling way insurance agents used the disaster to boost sales
  • A breakdown of “pass-the-hat” insurance and its not-so-charitable implications
  • We tend to trust numbers, but in a disaster like the Eastland, the math--whether insurance payouts or casualty numbers--deserves a second look.

📚 Bonus: Learn what a “baby elevator” was. (No, it’s not a metaphor. Yes, it’s as weird as it sounds.)

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