Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
How many people died in the fire?
146 people
Where was the fire?
23 Washington Pl, New York, NY 10003 (On NYU Campus near Washington Square)
How much money was given to the people who lost their family?
75$ per life lost.
How did the fire occur?
A guard was smoking and flicked his burning cigarette bud on the building.
Did anyone survive?
Few workers ran down the stairs to safety before they set ablaze, but all the other workers died 9th floor and up. The owners, their children and the governess fled to the roofs and stepped over to the next building to their safety.
Results of Reform
Fire safety codes, child worker safety, Department of labor created, employer provide restrooms, and workers compensation insurance in NYC.
Al Smith
Governor of New York four times, and was the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 1928. He was the first Roman Catholic and Irish-American to run for President as a major party nominee. He lost the election to Herbert Hoover.
What were the identites of most of the people who died in the fire
Immigrant girls from the ages of 16-23
Which floors was the fire confined?
It started on the eighth floor, and was confined to the ninth and tenth floors.
When did the fire happen?
March 25, 1911, Just before the workers were leaving, if it happened 5 minutes later then no one would have died.
Where were the burned corpses identified?
More than 100,000 grievances and curious people came to a temporary morgue on 26th street pier.
We're the owners of the Triangle the in trouble?
No. After a trail with the jury, the jury returns a verdict of not guilty.
Max Blanck and Isaac Harris
Owners of the triangle shirtwaist factory
Who was the last survivor of the fire?
Rose Freedman, died at 107
When the fire happened, how did the people die?
Some burned to death, but most jumped out of the windows, and fell to the pavement.
What about the girls on the tenth floor?
Some of them escaped to the roof.
Charles Francis Murphy
Tammany Hall leader began to fuse some of the boss rule with concerns of social reformers. Interest in state and national politics. Improving working conditions
Was the building effected?
The building was fireproof, so the only things that burned were the workers and the scraps of cloth.
Did the firemen save them with fire nets?
The fire nets broke under the weight of the falling bodies and made no effect, and many workers missed the nets.
What about the firemen's ladders?
The ladders only reached the 6th floor, not nearly high enough to save them.
Why didn't the girls on the top three stories go down the stairs or over thr roof?
The wooden stairs were on fire. They didn't know about a roof escape because they always used the 2 elevators.
How were the victims of the fire identified?
Their bodies were so badly scorched most were only identified by a burned item of clothing or a tooth.
How many fire escapes were there in the factory? How many were required?
There was only one usable interior fire escape, there was one other but it was locked because they wanted to check all workers leaving the building through one doorway to make sure they didn't steal anything. 3 fire escapes were required.
What was wrong with the factories doors?
They opened inwardly, it was NY law that they opened outwardly in case of a fire so they could be opened easily.
Frances Perkins
U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, and the first woman ever appointed to the cabinet. She fought for reform in NYC after the fire.
Fannie Lansner
a 21 year old forewoman at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, who perished in the fire.
Tammany Hall
a political organization within the Democratic Party in New York city (late 1800's and early 1900's) seeking political control by corruption and bossism