History of Chicago and south branches of the Chicago River, which flows through the city's downtown. The three white stripes represent the North, West and South sides of the city, Lake Michigan being the east side. The most famous and serious disaster was the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. On December 30, 1903 the "absolutely fireproof", five-week-old Iroquois Theater was engulfed by fire. The fire lasted less than thirty minutes; 602 people died as a result of being burned, asphyxiated, or trampled. The S.S. "Eastland" was a cruise ship based in Chicago and used for tours. On 24 July 1915—a calm, sunny day—the
Harris Theater (Chicago) usage program for smaller arts organizations". In the fall of the 2006–07 season, the Harris Theater hosted the New York City Ballet for five days of performances that marked the company's first visit to Chicago in over 25 years. This presentation grossed $2.3 million and enticed 600 new donors to support the theater, which netted $800,000 for operations and rental subsidies for its resident troupes. This contributed to the theater's first year of profitability in fiscal year 2007; it had net income of $1.3 million on revenues of $8.2 million. In , Mikhail Baryshnikov made his first visit to Chicago