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The East River was the site of one of the greatest disasters in the history of New York City when, in June 1904, the [[PS General Slocum|PS ''General Slocum'']] sank near North Brother Island due to a fire. It was carrying 1,400 German-Americans to a picnic site on Long Island for an annual outing. There were only [[PS General Slocum#1904 disaster|321 survivors of the disaster]], one of the worst losses of life in the city's long history, and a devastating blow to the [[Little Germany, Manhattan|Little Germany]] neighborhood on the [[Lower East Side]]. The captain of the ship and the managers of the company that owned it were indicted, but only the captain was convicted; he spent 3 and a half years of his 10-year sentence at [[Sing Sing|Sing Sing Prison]] before being released by a Federal parole board, and then pardoned by President [[William Howard Taft]].<ref>Jackson, Kenneth T. "General Slocum" in Jackson, p.499</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Staff| date=December 20, 1912| title = Van Schaick Pardoned. Captain of the Ill-Fated Slocum Is Restored to Full Citizenship.| work= [[The New York Times]]| url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9902E0DA1E3AE633A25753C2A9649D946396D6CF| access-date=April 13, 2009}}</ref>
Beginning in 1934, and then again from 1948 to 1966, the Manhattan shore of the river became the location for the limited-access [[FDR Drive|East River Drive]], which was later renamed after [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin Delano Roosevelt]], and is universally known by New Yorkers as the "FDR Drive". The road is sometimes at grade, sometimes runs under locations such as the site of the [[Headquarters of the United Nations]] and [[Carl Schurz Park]] and [[Gracie Mansion]] – the mayor's official residence, and is at time double-decked, because Hell Gate provides no room for more landfill.<ref name=concrete90>Eldredge & Horenstein (2014), p.90</ref> It begins at [[The Battery (Manhattan)|Battery Park]], runs past the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensboro Bridges, and the Ward's Island Footbridge, and terminates just before the Robert F. Kennedy Triboro Bridge when it connects to the [[Harlem River Drive]]. Between most of the FDR Drive and the River is the [[East River Greenway]], part of the [[Manhattan Waterfront Greenway]]. The East River Greenway was primarily built in connection with the building of the FDR Drive, although some portions were built as recently as 2002, and other sections are still incomplete.<ref>{{cite news |author=Staff
In 1963, [[Consolidated Edison|Con Edison]] built the [[Ravenswood Generating Station]] on the [[Long Island City]] shore of the river, on land some of which was once stone quarries which provided granite and marble slabs for Manhattan's buildings. The plant has since been owned by [[KeySpan]]. [[National Grid plc|National Grid]] and [[TC Energy|TransCanada]], the result of deregulation of the electrical power industry. The station, which can generate about 20% of the electrical needs of New York City – approximately 2,500 megawatts – receives some of its fuel by oil barge.<ref name=concrete89>Eldredge & Horenstein (2014), p.89</ref>
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