25 March 1911: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City, killing 146 garment workers, mostly young immigrant women, in one of the deadliest industrial disasters in American history.
The fire started on the eighth floor of the Asch Building in Greenwich Village, likely from a discarded cigarette igniting fabric scraps. It spread with terrifying speed through the cramped workrooms filled with tissue paper patterns and cotton garments.
Workers on the ninth floor found themselves trapped. One exit was blocked by flames, another locked, allegedly to prevent theft and unauthorized breaks. The single fire escape collapsed under the weight of fleeing workers. Desperate workers began jumping from windows 100 feet above the pavement.
The tragedy sparked outrage over sweatshop conditions and galvanized the labor movement. In the following years, New York passed dozens of laws regulating factory safety, fire prevention, and working conditions. Many historians consider the Triangle fire a turning point in American labor history.
