One hundred years ago today, a fire broke out at the Triangle Waist Factory in the Asch Buliding, a ten-story structure at 29 Washington Place in Greenwich Village. One hundred forty-six workers, many young immigrant women, were killed and today the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire is known as one of the worst industrial disasters in American history. The tragedy also underscored the horrid sweatshop conditions the workers were in—besides being overcrowded, they were locked in their floors and dozens decided to jump out of windows—and helped inspire a fight for better working conditions.
Here's the centennial site commemorating the tragedy, Remember the Triangle Fire. City Room has a look at the "half-hour of horror" of the fire, and the NY Times also has many archival articles about the incident and the company. Cornell also has a website, Remembering the Triangle Factory Fire, complete with a list of victims, interviews with survivors and a model of the 9th floor. And HBO's documentary, Triangle: Remembering the Fire will air on CNN tomorrow night at 11 p.m.
NY State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman wrote in a Daily News editorial today, "The memory of the 146 people who lost their lives in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire stands as a reminder that legal protections and workplace safety standards were won through a long struggle for social justice and at great human cost. Tragically, a century later, many of my colleagues in government seem to have forgotten the lessons of that unspeakable disaster. Over the last decade progress has slowed and, in many states, workers' rights have been seriously weakened.
