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Triangle Factory Fire
- 1. Nathan Pennington HIS 1102 Richard Pugh June 2, 2015 Triangle Factory Fire 1
- 2. Triangle Factory Fire New York City March 25, 1911
- 3. Outline 1. What isa Shirtwaist? 2. TriangleFactoryOwners 3. Working Life at the TriangleFactory 4. The Strike 5. 9th Floor Layout 6. The Fire 7. The Aftermath 8. Works Cited 3
- 4. What is a Shirtwaist? 4
- 5. Triangle Factory Owners Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, were known as the "Shirtwaist Kings." They immigratedfrom Russia makinga fortune manufacturing"Gibsongirl" styleblouses. 5
- 6. WorkingLife at the Triangle Factory Most Modern Facility High Ceilings Large Windows Electric Machines $2 A Day Wage 12 –16 hours 5 days a week No Breaks Saturday 8 hours Sunday Off Worker’s Pay Docked BrokenNeedles Mistakes Lost Time 6
- 7. The Strike • October 4, 1909 Triangle workers strike • Owners hire “Private Detectives” • Strikers are beaten • Police are paid to arrest strikers • Publicis indifferent • November 1909 – General Strike is called • 500 Factories are shut down • February 1910 strikeis settled • Almost allfactories are unionized • Triangle Factory remains non-union 7
- 8. 1. Locked doorto the stair well 2. Rusty fire escapethat collapsed 3. Cluttered work spaces 4. Short ladders only reached 6th floor 5. Not enough waterpressure 6. Long wooden tables became obstacles 7. Wickerbaskets full of scraps 8. Oily floors spread the fire quickly 9. Firenets failed to catch jumpers 10. No sprinkler system, only pails of water 11. Flammable barrel of oil 12. Boxes crowding the exit 13. Lack of a required third staircase 9th Floor Layout 8
- 9. The Fire Saturday March 25, 1911 I. 4:45 p.m. - Begins on the 8th Floor I. Smoke fills 9th floor immediately II. Panickedworkers run for the exits. I. Washington St. Door is locked. II. Elevator only holds 10-15 III. FireEscapeis rusted and collapses III. Owners escape by going to roof I. They cross to adjacent building IV. Women jump from windows I. Nets are rippedfrom firemen’s hands V. Ladders only reach 6th floor 9
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- 17. The Aftermath Thousands lined the street for the funerals Triangle workers wereseen as “Heroes” Blanck and Harris were charged Tried and acquitted New York State Legislature FactorySafety Commission 30 newlaws Minimum Wage Maximum hours Workplace conditions Strengthened Child Labor Laws 17
- 18. Works Cited Cornell University, ILR School, Kheel Center. Remembering The 1911 Triangle Factory Fire. 2011. Web page. 30 May2015. Triangle Fire. Dir.Jamilla Wignot. PBS Public Broadcasting Corporation.2011. TV Show, Online. trianglefire.info. Triangle Fire. 2011. Web Page. 30 May2015. 18
Editor's Notes
- Nathan Pennington HIS 1102 Richard Pugh June 2, 2015 Triangle Factory Fire
- The Triangle Factory Fire. New York City, Saturday March 25, 1911. Sometimes referred to as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. At 4:45 p.m. it began, twenty minutes later it would be over and 146 women and children would be dead.
- Outline What is a Shirtwaist? Triangle Factory Owners Working Life at the Triangle Factory The Strike 9th Floor Layout The Fire The Aftermath Works Cited
- What is a Shirtwaist? The Shirtwaist was a blouse, buttoned down the front all the way up to a closed neck collar. The sleeves were somewhat billowy and button tightly at the wrist. It snugged around the waist to be worn with the maxi skirt. The Shirtwaist was the must have garment for the well dressed woman of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Having been around for 20 years, the manufacturers knew its days were numbered. The were obsessed with keeping expenses low and profits high. It is almost unfathomable that and entire industry, 500 factories in New York alone, would be dedicated to the manufacture of one product.
- Triangle Factory Owners Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, were known as the "Shirtwaist Kings." They immigrated from Russia making a fortune manufacturing "Gibson girl" style blouses. They despised Unions, seeing them a threat to their profits. They fought all efforts to unionize their factories.
- Working Life at the Triangle Factory Blanck and Harris made sure their factories were the most modern for their time. The Triangle Factory, located on the 9th floor of the Asch building in Greenwich village, had high ceilings and large windows, creating one of the more well lit factories. The equipped their factories with the latest electric sewing machines. A pedal pump machine could sew at 30 stitches a second, the electric machines could make 3,000. Triangle workers were paid $2 per day. Which was a very good wage. Employees worked for 12 to 16 hours 5 days a week, with no breaks; not even lunch, a snack or restroom. Saturday was a “short” workday, only 8 hours. Sunday was the only day off. Workers were docked if they broke needles, or made mistakes. If the machine broke down and required maintenance, the workers pay was also docked. There was no sick pay, vacation or overtime. Workers often punctured their fingers with a needle. The would bind the wound with a scrap piece of cloth or thread and continue working.
- The Strike On the morning of October 4, 1909, the Triangle Factory went on strike. Max Blanck and Isaac Harris felt unionization was an attack on their private property. They had taken the risk to fund their dream. Blanck and Isaac Harris weren't going to let a “bunch of disgruntled factory girls” tell them how to run their company. The Triangle owners hired "private detective agencies “ to provide replacement workers and muscle, employed prostitutes to start fights with the picketers, and paid off the local police. Thugs beat Triangle strikers; and policemen hauled the picketers into court. But every d Every day for six weeks the women maintained their line in front of the Triangle Factory. The public was indifferent and some saw the strikers as being whiners and malcontents. At the end of November 1909 as if by some secret signal, workers in the 500 shirtwaist factories in New York, stood up, grab their belongs and began a general strike. By February 1910 factory owners had had enough. The majority of the workers returned to union-only shops. The workers of the Triangle Factory were not so lucky. They received some concessions concerning wages and hours. There would be no union at the Triangle Factory.
- 9th Floor Layout 1. Locked door to the stair well 2. Rusty fire escape that collapsed 3. Cluttered work spaces 4. Short ladders only reached 6th floor 5. Not enough water pressure 6. Long wooden tables became obstacles 7. Wicker baskets full of scraps 8. Oily floors spread the fire quickly 9. Fire nets failed to catch jumpers 10. No sprinkler system, only pails of water 11. Flammable barrel of oil 12. Boxes crowding the exit Lack of a required third staircase
- The Fire 4:45 p.m., fifteen minutes before the end of the Saturday workday. The fire begins on the 8th floor. Some sources say a carelessly discarded cigarette was the culprit. However it started, the fire spread quickly, filling the 8th and 9th floors with smoke within minutes. Fire spreads to the 9th floor almost immediately. Panicked workers run for the exits. They rush the Washington Street door, but it is locked. No one has a key. The small wooden freight elevator only holds 10 to fifteen people at a time. Some make it to the fire escape, only to have it collapse because of rust. The Factory owners, Blanck and Harris, make it to the roof and are able to cross to an adjacent building, unharmed. Women jump from the windows into the firemen’s nets below. The nets are ripped from their hands as the women crash to the ground. With their hands bleeding the men pick up the nets, to try to catch the next falling woman. Fire department ladders are extended, but only reach the 6th floor thirty feet short of the 9th floor Triangle Factory. As the elevator descends for the final time, before the factory is consumed by fire, women jump or are pushed into the shaft. All of them die as their bodies pile onto the roof of the elevator.
- Curious onlookers. Cornell University, ILR School, Kheel Center. Remembering The 1911 Triangle Factory Fire. 2011. Web page. 30 May 2015.
- The firemen’s ladders only reach the 6th floor fully extended. There was too little pressure in the fire hoses. The one and only fire escape was rusted and collapsed costing several women their lives Cornell University, ILR School, Kheel Center. Remembering The 1911 Triangle Factory Fire. 2011. Web page. 30 May 2015.
- Cornell University, ILR School, Kheel Center. Remembering The 1911 Triangle Factory Fire. 2011. Web page. 30 May 2015.
- Inside the factory. Cornell University, ILR School, Kheel Center. Remembering The 1911 Triangle Factory Fire. 2011. Web page. 30 May 2015.
- Cornell University, ILR School, Kheel Center. Remembering The 1911 Triangle Factory Fire. 2011. Web page. 30 May 2015.
- Identifying loved ones. Cornell University, ILR School, Kheel Center. Remembering The 1911 Triangle Factory Fire. 2011. Web page. 30 May 2015.
- The New York Herald, March 26, 1911.] 53 - jumped or fell from the windows. 19 - died in the elevator shaft. 20 – died when the fire escape collapsed. 50 - burned to death on the factory floor. All but 23 of the dead were women, nearly half of them were teen-agers, the youngest was 14 years old. Cornell University, ILR School, Kheel Center. Remembering The 1911 Triangle Factory Fire. 2011. Web page. 30 May 2015.
- The Aftermath April 5, 1911, in a driving rain, thousands line the street to pay their respects to the fallen workers. Triangle workers are seen as heroes. Max Blanck and Isaac Harris are charged. They are acquitted when no evidence can be produced proving they had prior knowledge that the Washington Street door was locked. The Triangle tragedy forces the New York Legislature to take action. Within a few weeks they pass no lees than 30 new laws, concerning minimum wage, maximum hours and workplace safety and conditions. Child Labor Laws are give teeth and are strengthened. Fred Gompers summed up the tragedy, “Rarely do you get an opportunity for such legislative reform, but women had to burn first in order for this to happen”.
- Works Cited Cornell University, ILR School, Kheel Center. Remembering The 1911 Triangle Factory Fire. 2011. Web page. 30 May 2015. Triangle Fire. Dir. Jamilla Wignot. PBS Public Broadcasting Corporation. 2011. TV Show, Online. trianglefire.info. Triangle Fire. 2011. Web Page. 30 May 2015.