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
Chicago Theater of the Air type of production. Beginning January 12, 1949, many of the people involved in "Chicago Theater of the Air" also put on "Comedy Playhouse", "a fast-paced half hour show featuring top Broadway comedy hits" on Mutual. Chicago Theater of the Air Chicago Theater of the Air was a weekly American radio program that featured hour-long operettas & musical theater. It first ran locally in May 1940 on WGN radio in Chicago and then nationally as an unsponsored show on the Mutual Broadcasting System from October 5, 1940, to September 11, 1954. The show grew out of listener surveys conducted by WGN