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At just 17 years old, Peter Hardy stood on a Chicago bridge in 1915, watching the Eastland fill with happy Western Electric employees on their way to a summer picnic. Moments later, the ship rolled onto its side, plunging more than 800 people to their deaths.

Peter didn’t run. This Rusyn immigrant teenager dove straight into the polluted Chicago River and began hauling people out — families clinging together, strangers fighting for breath. He saved at least ten lives that morning before finally staggering away, shaken but alive. And in the chaos, looters stole the very shoes and jacket he had set aside before leaping in, leaving him to walk home barefoot.

In this episode, I share how I stumbled across Peter Hardy’s heroism — and why his story struck me so deeply. Like Peter, I am Rusyn. That shared identity made his presence in the Eastland story all the more astonishing, since our small, stateless people are rarely mentioned in Chicago’s history at all.

From Sanok, a small town in Poland, to Chicago and Connecticut — Peter Hardy’s story runs through all three. A Rusyn teenager who leapt into a river, walked away barefoot, and built a legacy that endures.

Resources:

Mills. Making Places of Connecticut

Bridgeport Sunday Post, Sept 5, 1965 — “Peter Hardy Was a Hero at Capsizing of Excursion Steamer 50 Years Ago,” by Andree Hickok.

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