On this day in history, March 25, 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City, killing 146 people and ushering in many new workplace safety reforms.
The fire broke out on the eighth floor of Asheville, home to Triangle West Company, according to Cornell University’s Triangle Fire online exhibit.
The victims ranged in age from 14 to 43, but most were in their late teens or early 20s.
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Cornell University said the oldest victim was 43-year-old Providenza Panno, who was born in Italy and lived in the United States for six years at the time of her death.
The two youngest victims, Kate Leone and Rosalia Malters, were only 14 years old. Leone was born in the United States. Maltese was born in Italy, and she lived in the United States for four years.
The majority of the 146 people killed were women, most of them recent immigrants to the United States from Eastern Europe and Italy.
A view from the roof of the Ashe Building at Washington and Greene Streets after the deadly fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City on March 25, 1911. (FPG/Getty Images)
Max Blank and Isaac Harris, two Russian immigrants known as the “Kings of the Shirtwaist,” owned the Triangle Factory.
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“The shirtwaist, most often worn by young women, was usually combined with a dark-colored skirt and accessorized with a belt or sash,” says FIDM.
The shirtwaist pictured here was a popular garment for women in the early 20th century. (Alamy)
In 1901, Blank and Harris moved their company to the eighth floor of the newly completed Ashe Building in New York City, according to Cornell University’s website.
The building’s owner, Joseph J. Ash, claimed that the building was fireproof, but it did not have the necessary number of stairs to exit the building.
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Cornell University’s website states, “Despite the Superintendent’s objections, the architect applied for and obtained an exception to the rule requiring three enclosed staircases per 10,000 square feet of building floor area.” said.
“He was allowed to install only two stairs, arguing that the rear fire escape ladder would act as a third stair and therefore provide a means of evacuation in case of a fire.”
Relatives and friends of the deceased Triangle Shirtwaist Company employee lined up to identify their loved ones. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Within a decade, the Triangle West Company had expanded to the 9th and 10th floors of the Ashe Building and employed several hundred workers, mostly immigrants, in a contractor-type system.
“Factory owners dealt only with subcontractors, who negotiated the price of their goods and employed their own workers on the same premises. We did not control payroll and did not know exactly how many workers were in the building “at any time,” Cornell University’s web page states.
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Wages for these workers were usually very low and factory conditions were harsh.
Mr. Blank and Mr. Harris were “firmly opposed to unions” and even fired workers they thought were interested in union organizing.
“They ignore fire prevention and safety measures, subject workers to humiliating bag searches before leaving for the day, and are known for harsh discipline imposed during work hours,” Cornell University’s website states. ” he said.
Victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire lay in the street in front of the building. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The owner’s disregard for workplace safety culminated on March 25 when a fire broke out and quickly spread to all three floors of the factory, killing 146 of the approximately 500 employees within minutes. reached.
The cause of the fire is still unknown to this day, but Encyclopedia Britannica says it is believed to have been caused by an improperly discarded cigarette.
“We have to do something. We have to turn this into some kind of victory, some kind of constructive action.”
Firefighters arriving at the scene found the factory door locked and unable to open outwards, making it impossible to open it amid the rush of people trying to escape.
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Furthermore, the fire truck’s ladder could not reach above the 6th floor, making rescue efforts impossible.
Many workers lost their lives by jumping to escape the flames, but the nets used by firefighters were not strong enough to catch them.
Firefighters found that neither ladders nor hoses were high enough to reach the flames on the eighth, ninth and 10th floors of the Ashe Building in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. (George Linhart/Corbis via Getty Images)
The fire remained New York City’s deadliest workplace incident until the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
In December 1911, Blank and Harris were both tried for manslaughter and were acquitted. It could not be established whether either man was aware that the factory doors were locked.
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According to the website Famous-Trials.com, on March 11, 1914, nearly three years after the fire, the owners of the Ashe Building settled 23 separate civil lawsuits from the families of those killed in the fire. .
Crowds of people stand in the street waiting to identify the remains of immigrant workers killed in the Triangle Fire in New York City on March 25, 1911. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Settlements averaged about $75 per person killed.
However, the deaths of 146 people were not in vain. The Triangle Fires ushered in a series of new worker protection reforms, laws, and policies.
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Frances Perkins, who became Secretary of Labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 and was the first woman to serve in the Cabinet, witnessed the fire and its aftermath firsthand.
The Department of Labor’s website says the devastation made her realize: “We have to do something. We have to turn this into some kind of victory, some kind of constructive action.” .
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“Mr. Perkins and other leaders with first-hand experience of the Triangle fires, such as New York Governor Al Smith, quickly helped enact new workplace safety standards in New York state and others across the country. “We set an example for the community,” he said. Department of Labor.
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