In one of the darkest moments of America’s industrial history,
the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City
burned down, killing 146 workers, on March 25, 1911. The
tragedy led to the development of a series of laws and
regulations that better protected the safety of factory
workers.

The Triangle factory, owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris,
was located in the top three floors of the 10-story Asch
Building in downtown Manhattan. It was a sweatshop in
every sense of the word: a cramped space lined with work
stations and packed with poor immigrant workers, mostly
teenaged women who did not speak English. At the time of
the fire, there were four elevators with access to the factory
floors, but only one was fully operational and it could hold
only 12 people at a time. There were two stairways down to
the street, but one was locked from the outside to prevent
theft by the workers and the other opened inward only. The
fire escape was shoddily constructed, and could not support
the weight of more than a few women at a time.

Washington place today, site of the triangle fire, was constructed in 1900. it is currently
KNOWN AS NYU’S BROWN BUILDING.