Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911: a Virtual Cemetery

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Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911

March 25, 1911 the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire occurred and became New York’s landmark industrial disaster that killed 146 of the factory's 500 employees, most of them young immigrant women and girls of Italian and European Jewish descent. The tragedy sparked a nationwide debate about workers rights, representation and safety.The Triangle Shirtwaist factory occupied the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors of the Asch Building, which still stands at 23-29 Washington Place beside Washington Square Park in Manhattan. The shirtwaist factory is now called the Brown Building, and is part of the New York University campus.When the factory was open, it was a crowded space where workers churned out hundreds of shirtwaists, which were fashionable dresses of the time that featured an upper portion styled like a man's shirt, with buttons and a turnover collar. In the early 1900s, many considered the Triangle Shirtwaist Company one of the more modern New York workplaces, despite being overcrowded and lacking an evacuation plan in the event of a fire.As the factory's tailors and seamstresses prepared to leave for the day on March 25, 1911, they suddenly found the building had caught fire. The women were trapped in the burning sweatshop and many died trying to force locked doors open. Others threw themselves from the windows.As the factory burned, firefighters and onlookers alike were astonished to find the hoses could only reach as high as the sixth floor. Efforts to fashion impromptu rescue strategies, including human chains for the workers to climb and nets to catch those who began jumping, were largely unsuccessful.After the incident, factory owners Max Blanck and Isaac Harris were indicted for manslaughter. But the pair was acquitted after less than two hours of deliberation.Outraged by the verdict, union organizers from groups such as the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (I.L.G.W.U.), which represented female garment workers nationally, rallied for change. They demanded that better workplace safety laws be required.Three months after the fire, Governor John A. Dix signed a law creating the Factory Investigating Commission. Following the findings of the commission, the New York State Legislature enacted 36 statutes to regulate workplace fire safety and ventilation, and to set minimum standards for working women and children.The public fury over the fire and its scores of female victims proved a particularly strong rallying point for women's rights advocates. The garment workers' union and the Women's Trade Union League both seized the moment to organize garment workers and push for collective bargaining rights.