Burned Beyond Recognition The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire March 25, 1911

By Robert Grey Reynolds, Jr

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire happened on a Saturday inside the Asch Building in what is now Greenwich Village. Multiple tenants occupied the twelve floors of the building adjacent to Washington Place and Green Street. It was about 4:30 p.m. when a blaze shot up from beneath one of the cutting tables. The sewing machines occupied the majority of the work space. A man employed as a cutter may have carelessly discarded a match used to light a cigarette. The bins underneath the tables were filled with trimmings of lawn, i.e. cotton fabric from which the shirtwaists, or blouses, were made.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert Grey Reynolds, Jr
• Release date: Feb 18, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370641314

Robert Grey Reynolds, Jr

I am a soon to be retired Duke Medical Center library researcher, who enjoys writing. I have been writing on Wikipedia for years and have begun to writeebooks. My pastimes include selling books on EBay, genealogical research, baseball (Pittsburgh Pirates), collecting antique furniture and coins, and spending time with Kingsley, my cocker spaniel.

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Burned Beyond Recognition

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

March 25, 1911

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of March 25, 1911was among the deadliest in United States history. The worst in the annals of New York City, it accounted for 146 dead and 71 injured. The shirtwaist factory occupied the eighth, ninth and tenth floors of the Asch Building, situated just east of Washington Square Park, in Greenwich Village.

Still standing the building is located on the northwest corner of Washington Place and Greene Streets. Built of iron and steel its neo-Renaissance style edifice was designed and built in 1900-01 by architect John M. Wooley (1865-1933), of West 11th Street. It was named for its owner Joseph Jefferson Asch (1880-1935), a physician of 780 Lexington Avenue.

Two months before the conflagration the New York City building department had certified the structure fireproof. Tragically building inspectors had only recently approved a situation which left all safe exits from the building completely blocked.

The Triangle company made women’s blouses, waists or shirtwaists as they were called in the early twentieth century. Most of its employees were immigrants who had only recently arrived in America. German, Italian and European Jewish girls, some as young as 13, operated the Triangle factory machines.

Working conditions were deplorable. Employees regularly slaved away in fourteen hour shifts, surrounded by fabric scraps. Discarded pieces of cotton fabric were haphazardly chocked in bins, baskets and on the floors of the workplace. Worker safety was also diminished by the open flame gas lamps used to light the factory workrooms. By extending smoking privileges to male fabric cutters, the factory owners further compromised the protection of their employees.

The fledgling International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) was established during a labor strike in 1910. By refusing to sign an agreement with the union promising better working conditions, Triangle ownership proved exceptional. The business refused