Often overshadowed by the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, the General Slocum steamboat disaster on June 15, 1904, was nonetheless the deadliest New York City disaster prior to September 11, 2001. The official number of deceased was 1021 people: mostly women and children. The legacy of this disaster not only includes the tremendous loss of life but the reshaping of an entire New York City neighborhood, Kleindeutschland. Already losing community members to Yorkville and the outer boroughs by the turn of the 20th century, the Slocum disaster accelerated the exodus of Germans from Little Germany and ushered in the more diverse immigrant communities that settled on the Lower East Side.

In its history, New York City has seen its fair share of accidents, disasters, and catastrophes. Some have been man-made, while others were the work of Mother Nature. These events have, over time, altered and shaped the city and its citizens.

General Slocum Memorial at the Lutheran (now All Faiths) Cemetery, undated postcard. On June 15, 1904, a passenger steamboat, carrying members of the St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church to a summer picnic on Long Island, caught fire in the East River. With the ship ablaze, inaccessible lifeboats, rotting life jackets, and a crew who had never practiced a fire drill, passengers began jumping into the choppy waters of the river. The majority of church members onboard were women and children (it was a Wednesday). As women and children entered the water, they horrifyingly sunk instead of floating, due to the disintegrated cork in the life preservers. Worse still, like most Americans at the time, the passengers did not know how to swim (and their heavy clothing further weighted them down). The captain pushed through the Hell Gate Chanel, fanning the flames, before grounding the ship at North Brother Island. In total more than 1000 people died, with some five dozen unidentified. Most of the unidentified victims were buried in a mass grave in the Lutheran Cemetery (now All Faiths) in Queens. On the first anniversary of the disaster, this memorial was dedicated. Twenty feet tall and over eight feet square at the base, it was constructed of granite and bronze. On the sides of the monument were four statues representing Memory, Grief, Hope, and Faith. On the front of the monument, a bronze relief depicted the burning ship with an appropriate dedication explaining the intent of the memorial. At the ceremony, 18-month-old Adelle Liebenow, who was the youngest survivor, pulled the ribbon to reveal the monument.