This Women’s History Month, we remember the 146 people lost in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire on this day 110 years ago. Of the tragedy’s victims, 129 were women, and most were just 14 to 23 years old.
In 1911, the streets of the Lower East Side bustled. Most of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory’s 500+ laborers were young immigrant women and girls of Italian and Jewish heritage. Many worked as sewing machine operators and shop girls and lived just blocks from the factory as friends and neighbors. Commuting by foot or bicycle from Grand, Stanton, and Ludlow Streets to the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place, they climbed by stairs or by elevator to the 8th to 10th floors of the Asch building factory. There, they sometimes worked 14-hour days and a seven-day workweek, earning an average wage of $7-$12 a week.
The incredible women and girls of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory came mainly from Italy, Russia, and Poland, making the journey to New York City in pursuit of new beginnings and full of hope. Some who emigrated from Europe arrived with their families, others alone or with few companions. All had dreams.
Scribners Magazine Illustration of a Shirtwaist
Style was on the cusp of the Edwardian and Orientalism eras. Fashion in Paris was Vionnet {for Doucet} and Poiret. Corsets were swapped for long bias tinkered dresses, hobble skirts, lampshade tunics, and Kimono-esque Opera Coats.
American fashion was less opulent, more practical. With the growing number of women entering the workforce, a tailored shirtwaist, long skirt, and oversized hat became the signature look. But what transcended trends was the creation of the American quilt of culture – stitching the foundation of who we are today and embedding the industry with heritage and traditions brought from throughout the world to New York.
It was a late Saturday afternoon. Almost 500 workers were still on the factory floors. It is said that one of the women from the 9th floor had become engaged. Co-workers celebrated with slices of cake. Sometime shortly after 4:30 pm, smoke appeared. Fire is believed to have started in the rag bins of the 8h floor’s cutting room. An old, unfunctional fire hose prevented workers from controlling the fire, which spread to all three floors – fully igniting the 9th floor.
Katie Weiner, circa 1940s-50s, Great Aunt of Dr. Suzanne Pred Bass and Triangle Fire Survivor. Photo courtesy of Dr. Suzanne Pred Bass
Although sprinklers had been in use since the late 1890s, they had not been installed by factory owners Blanck and Harris as a cost-saving measure. Apparently, concerned about the risks of workers taking materials from the floor or slowing production by going outside for breaks coupled with fears of labor groups unionizing, most of the doors leading to stairwells were locked. The ground-floor exit doors were also locked.
Blanck and Harris escaped – leaving people with no help in attempting to exit by only 1 of 4 working elevators, by a fire escape that collapsed from weight, or by fire rescue that could only reach the 7th floor.
In less than 18 minutes,123 women and girls and 23 men perished. Nearly all those who worked on the 9th floor succumbed to the fire and smoke inhalation – or were one of 62 people whose only option to the fire was through windows. Others became trapped in stairwells.
Miraculously there were survivors.
Rosie Weiner, 1911, Great Aunt of Dr. Suzanne Pred Bass
Russian immigrant Katie Weiner made it out of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire by incredible means. After finding the 9th floor stairwell doors locked and running to the windows without chance for safe escape, she fled to the hallway where she jumped into the elevator shaft, catching onto the cable robes of what she instinctively knew would be the last elevator down. Her sister Rosie Weiner, 23, perished in the fire. Katie became a heroine and testified during Blanck and Harris’ trial.
Dr. Suzanne Pred Bass, Board of Directors member of the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition {RTFC}, hopes that the planned Triangle Memorial in development at the Asch building site will honor the legacy of her Great Aunts Katie Weiner and Rosie Weiner and all the victims lost.
“The Triangle Memorial will be built on the original site of the fire now the Brown building,” she said, “This memorial is long overdue for families who, since 1911, have been waiting for their loved ones to be honored. I hope it will also be a call to action and message to all people who see it. It will truly memorialize these young workers and also be a reminder of the terrible tragedies that continue to occur in our word due to lack of safe, ethical labor standards. We have come a long way the since the fire and this memorial can be a beacon in the way it signifies changed American labor laws -so that workers would have better protection in future.”
In the weeks following the fire, the city grieved with the families- with nearly 400,000 New Yorkers gathering in the streets to march, mourn, and protest.
Former New York State Senator Serphin Maltese, co-founder and President of the Triangle Fire Memorial Association, lost three family members who had emigrated from Sicily. His Grandmother, Caterina Maltese,39, and mother of her two daughters Aunt Lucia Maltese 20, and Aunt Rosario Maltese, 14, were also lost in the fire. For more than five decades, Senator Maltese and his late brother Vincent Maltese, who served as President of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Memorial Society, dedicated much of their work and life to honoring their family and victims of the Triangle fire through education and advocacy for better labor standards. Through the 1940s and 1950s, Senator Maltese kept alive the memories of those lost by placing flowers at the site and was active in NY state legislature development until 2008. Today, he hopes that. “as we commemorate the 110th anniversary of the Triangle Fire, we bring attention not only to the 146 victims and their contribution to America, but also raise awareness and encourage activism. Sadly, we’ve seen the same type of tragedy occur in other countries -with senseless loss of life and workers continuing to be taken advantage of and have their labor rights violated globally.”
When we remember the policy centered change that took place as a result of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory tragedy, it is important to understand the pioneering role women played leading to U.S. labor rights movement and safety standards.
Women such as Clara Lemlich, a Ukrainian immigrant garment worker who in 1909, two years prior to the tragedy at age 23, led the Uprising of 20,000 rallying more than 15,000 New York City women to strike for shorter hours and better wages.
The legacy of Frances Perkins – who became FDR’s Secretary of Labor and was the first female cabinet member and architect of the social legislature that would later become the New Deal – was largely shaped by experience witnessing the March 25th tragedy.
Yet, perhaps most significant to labor rights history was the rise of gender equity-based activism through the Suffragettes movement. Just two months following the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire tragedy, more than 3,000 women marched for Suffrage down 5th Avenue to Union Square and lobbied for their right to vote. Among them was the Women’s Trade Union League which carried “Women Need Votes to End Sweat Shops” signs, mourning for the Triangle victims lost. Despite the 19th Amendment’s passing in 1920, it was not until the Voting Rights Act in 1965, more than half a century following the Triangle Fire, could all American women use their voting voice- to say no to unsafe, unfair working conditions. Today and tomorrow human kind of all genders can honor the legacy of those lost by using their power to vote.
Special thanks to LuLu Lolo and Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition and Triangle Memorial. To learn more visit: http://rememberthetrianglefire.org/
