Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Research Paper

Life in the early 1900’s wasn’t easy. Competition for jobs was at an all time high, especially in New York City. Immigrants were flooding in and needed to find work fast, even if that meant in the hot, overcrowded conditions of garment factories. Conditions were horrid and disaster was inevitable, and disaster did strike in March, 1911. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York set on fire, killing 146 workers. This is an important event in US history because it helped accomplish the tasks unions and strikes had tried to accomplish years earlier, It improved working conditions in factories nationwide and set new safety laws and regulations so that nothing as catastrophic would happen again. The workplace struggles became public after

The factories housed the latest technology of the Gilded Age, such as the assembly line. The mass production that the assembly line brought about made the rich richer, but did nothing to help the poor. They were working long hours in sometimes extremely dangerous conditions. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was considered one of the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city. Since, the owners locked the doors to the stairwells and exits - due to theft and unauthorized breaks - many of the workers were trapped with nowhere to go. As a result 147 garment workers died from smoking inhalation and falling to their deaths. In response a newspaper published an article titled “Fire Trap Victims Buried Draft New Law to Save Shop Workers,” covers the stories of the survivors and witnesses as well as questioning who was at fault and what further actions would take place (Document

All of the workers who worked at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory were very young and were not treated well. They were all around 15 years old and were mostly Italian and Jewish immigrants. Their work was 7 days a week and 12 hours a day. For all of this work and time, they were only paid about 6-15 dollars a week which is not a lot of money. Lunch was their only break during the 12 hour day and it was for just a half an hour. However, during the factories busy season, their work was basically non stop and even more demanding. Also, in some cases, they were required to bring their own supplies including needles, thread, irons and sometimes even their own sewing machines. Surprisingly, around 500 people worked there every day.

Throughout history, women have faced with a plethora of challenges that called for them to transcend society’s limitations. One of these situations was the challenges presented by the terrible living and factory conditions in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire took the lives of 146 immigrant women and devastated New York; and due to the theft-preventative measures of locking the doors to the factory, owner, Isaac Harris and Max Blanck led to even more lives being lost. This situation, although terrible, was not that uncommon. As these immigrant women arrived in the United States, there would be a typical and similar experience among many; one that started with the problems offered upon arrival,

On October 15, 1910 the factory has a mandatory fire inspection and they pass. A month later, a fire in Newark kills twenty-five workers. This stimulates fire prevention efforts in buildings but again, this warning is ignored. January 15, 1911 is the last time prior to the fire that garbage is taken from the factory. On March 16, another report warning of improper safety standards in New York buildings is published. However, like previous warnings, it is again ignored. Nine days later, at 4:45 PM, just before workers would be released, a fire breaks out on the eighth floor. This fire will take the lives of a 146 unfortunate victims. Most of these victims are those of young woman. Six minutes later, the New York Fire Department (NYFD) arrives on site. By this time, the fire is spreading up to the ninth and tenth floors, which also belong to the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Those on the eighth floor quickly head down and those on the tenth floor flee to the roof. However, most workers who were on the ninth floor are stranded, unable to move up or down. By 4:47 PM, the last of the bodies from the ninth floor land on the sidewalk, falling from the ninth floor ledge. It is not until 5:05 PM, that the fire is finally taken under control and ten minutes later is described as “all over.” (Stein. Triangle Fire) NYFD fighters head to all the top floors of the building finding many severely burned bodies. Mobs of

The exits were locked and the fire escapes were unable to support rescue support. This left many people jumping out of the windows to their death along with the multiple deaths already caused by the fire inside the building. Unfortunately, 146 lives were lost before any changes could

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a vast amount of recent immigrant workers were faced with a horrendous situation within the working class due to the selfish acts of greed from big business corporations. The impactful results of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York City during 1911 brought a devastating memory of horror, but at the same time a memory of an event that leads reforms. The Shirtwaist Factory Fire brings hope that even great tragedies such as it can provide change. The results from the fire drove socialist, trade unionists, and progressive reformers to finally get the push they needed to overcome the longstanding obstacles to reform. Reformers focused on various approaches to improving the situation

On March 25, 1911 in the New York City’s West village 146 people mainly young women immigrants of Italian and Jewish background perished. The women, some just teenagers would work long hours in the factory sewing shirtwaist high necked cottons blouses which were the fashion staple of the time for young women. The owners of the Triangle Shirt waist factory would lock the doors while the women worked, said to prevent “theft” and the visit of union reps to the location. What lead to the fire was the unsanitary factory floor. This was the exact reason to why before the actual fire, 400 of the factories employees went on strike. During this strike the women fought for better wages and safer working conditions. Unfortunately they only won some of their concessions on pay, but little was actually done by the factories owner who continued to keep the workplace in shambles. As well as the doors still locked.

On March 25, 1911 the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory caught fire. There is a couple of reasons why the factory caught fire like for instance, there where no strict fire prevention law and businesses were corrupted for example, the owners Blanck and Harris are know to have torched their business before workplace hours in order to collect on their fire insurance policies, this was a common practice in the early 20s, History.com staff (2009) Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire http://www.history.com/topics/triangle-shirtwaist-fire, at the time making it easy for company and corruptions to get away hazardous workplaces environments. With no automatic sprinkler installed, 10 story tall building not being fire resistant and many other fire hazards it was

The fire first started on the eighth floor and climbed up the building. Ninth floor workers were trapped because they were not alerted about the fire and had little time to escape. They tried to use the elevator as many times as they possibly could, but the elevators stopped operating. Clotilde Terranova had no idea that she could have survived the fire. They say she ran from window to window, and before anyone could stop her, she jumped out. She saw the fire blazing up from the ninth floor and was so frightened and acted in the

The Triangle Waist Company, manufactured women’s clothing and was located in the heart of Manhattan. This company, owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, occupied the floors of the Asch Building. The factory attracted many people in desperate need of work. This consequently led to the workers being taken advantage of by paying them very low wages. They often worked excessively long hours without adequate compensation, and the safety or work conditions were also of no importance. Around the same time other factories were actually standing up and protesting the harsh working conditions in what is known as “sweatshops.” Even after the cloakmakers ' strike of 1910, which established a grievance system, most working conditions did not improve. Also a lot of the workers were immigrant woman and did not have the confidence to stand up to the factory owners. The

In today’s time, it is almost impossible to to find a building that does not have exit signs or fire extinguishers here in America. Fire drills are regularly practiced in schools and workplaces to ensure the tiniest amount of fatality would not occur. However, it wasn’t like that in the 1900’s. Neither safety issues nor regulations were taken into thought. “The waist industry was flourishing in New York: there were more than five hundred blouse factories, employing upward of forty thousand workers.” In this time of history, the Triangle Waist Company was the largest manufacturer of women’s shirtwaist in the entire country! On March 25, 1911, one hundred and forty six individuals lost their life to what was one of the biggest events in history

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire was the epitome offer the labor reform that would impact years to follow. In the year 1911, a tragic incident shook New York City, this incident being the “Triangle Shirtwaist Fire”. The Triangle Shirtwaist Company employed an approximate of 500 people, being from the minority group of young Jewish and Italian women. The Company had already started to play a “key role” in the era of labor history. After about 200 of the company’s women tried to join the “International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union” abbreviated to (ILGWU), the company resorted to firing many of their women. In the year 1909, after the company had taken part in firing women after they tried to join the (ILGWU). This event did cause an outbreak leading

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris. These factories specialized in making women’s blouses. Women that worked there were mainly European and Jewish immigrants that were trying to make some money. Since they made that decision they were faced with poverty and horrible working conditions. The immigrants also had to suffer through a new language and that made them an easy target for people

Being injured while on the workplace was found everywhere and Spoon River was not an exception to this rule. Weldy had experienced an explosion while on working in the canning industry, which caused him to become blind. While similar, another event occurred in 1911 that was deadlier than any before. Known as the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, it was deadliest industrial disaster in New York history. The textile factory was located on the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of building in New York City. Within the sweatshop, hundreds of people would labor for twelve hours a day in a cramped and dimly area. This overcrowding of employees and poor working conditions was just a disaster waiting to happen. This catastrophe occurred on March 25, 1911 and