The Impact Of The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Conner Speaker Mr.Williams US History - 1A 14 May 2018 Triangle Shirtwaist Informative Essay The Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire took place on March 25, 1911. It was considered one of the deadliest industrial accidents in the history of New York city. The Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire Caused many changes including Social, economic ,and Political changes in America.

Introduction Summary The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire is considered one of the deadliest fire tragedies in history that claimed 146 lives of mostly young girls and women. Majority of the victims were Italian and Jewish immigrants working in the garment factory (Lewis, 2016). They escaped their mother countries to seek better lives in the United States, but instead were met with terrible conditions of working and grinding poverty. In 1911, March 25th on a Saturday afternoon, a tragedy occurred in New York City in the garment company called Triangle Shirtwaist, where a fire occurred in the Asch Building top floors.

Many people might say, why was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire so important? The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was so important because it was a tragedy that opened the nation's eyes to poor working conditions in garment factories. Other question might be ask why were the doors locked in the Triangle Shirtwaist fire? The building had only one fire escape, Long tables and bulky machines trapped many of the victims. Panicked workers were crushed as they struggled with doors that were locked by managers to prevent theft, or doors that opened the wrong way.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire begun on March 25,1911. The fire started because someone had dropped a cigarette and started the fire. The fire started on the 8th floor of the factory, it continued up to the 9th floor. The fire killed around 145 workers. Some people jumped and killed themselves rather than getting burned alive, one jumper survived the jump.

Despite the death and destruction it caused, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire ultimately benefited America by opening the eyes of mistreated factory workers and inspiring them to fight for better working conditions. Though it was unbeknownst at the time, the fire would inspire mistreated workers to rise out of the ashes and work tirelessly not for a factory, but for their own wellbeing. The history, the fire, and the trial that are all connected to the Triangle Shirtwaist Company are the events that led to the exploration for better working conditions. While we may not wish to remember all of the suffering the conflagration caused, we see its imprint it left on society whenever we see someone at work. This just imprint is one of safety.

To determine this, many sources and ideas must be recognized and appointed. One of the ideas that has come to mind was that a cigarette butt from the workers who had secretly been smoking had made it's way into the cloth bin and, because of the highly flammable material the blouses were made of, it set the bin and the building ablaze. Another idea that has come to mind is that maybe the owners of the establishment, Max and Isaac, burned the building down on purpose, making this an even more interesting topic. Some of the evidence that has risen up from the possible dark truth below is that the doors leading out of the building on the ninth floor, where the doors were supposedly locked and/ or were designed to be pushed outwards instead of inwards. Max and Isaac claim that this was because of a theft concern, and that this would keep minimal thefts happening (Martin par 8).

One of the biggest fire tragedies in the 1900’s was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factor fire in 1911. The factory was a very dangerous environment to work in. There were no law that protected the laborers from the unsafe work environment. The factory workers were mostly immigrants from Europe. Also at this time there were no laws making the businesses have fire escape plans, or have any fire protection equipment.

The hope was for prison time and a fine in order to intimidate any other manufacturer to not follow in their footsteps, with the fine however, many feared of a reoccurrence. The mourning over the loss of hundreds and the outrage over lack of punishment towards the company owners pushed everyone to make sure this did not reoccur. Protests to improve factory life mixed with the fear of more activism, like the uprising of twenty-thousand, made the officials decide to make some changes. “The reform movement began with the establishment of the Factory Investigation Commission by Governor Dix on June 30, 1911 (Argersinger p31).” The findings showed the unsafe and unhealthy conditions that the workers faced daily and the owners were unprepared for the negative exposure.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire The Fire And Its Causes The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire was one of New Yorks deadliest work place fires. It happened on March 25th, 1911 and would end up destroying the upper three floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Many people would die from being burned alive or jumping out of the building trying to escape the fire thinking they could maybe survive the fall. This fire would take many lives approximately one hundred and forty six people. Out of the one hundred and forty six people, one hundred and twenty six people were young women who worked at the factory.

After the tragedy of the fire there was public outcry for reforms that would help to prevent this kind of travesty from happening again. Fallowing after the fire building codes were more strictly checked and maintained, employees were not allowed to lock their workers inside of the factories, and child labor laws would also eventually be established through the tragedy of the fire and other cases of yellow journalism. Overall, the late 1800s and the early 1900s was a time that saw many different social reforms and journalistic endeavors to help those less fortunate, but it was also a time plagued by poverty and misfortune for the working

The Triangle Shirtwaist fire was a great tragedy; so many young women had to suffer because of the condition and leak of care that the owner put locking the doors and forcing the women to leave through one and the leak safety in the work place for these women. The Triangle Shirtwaist incident had a great significance forwards the labor reform movement; this reform movement has grown rapidly due to the fire and is working on improving the working conditions of all factories in the United States, and the welfare of the workers.

The Triangle Waist Company Fire? In 1911 one of the world’s most dangerous workplace disasters occurred. In New York City, of 1911 the Triangle Waist Company Factory set fire on the eighth floor. For many years people wondered what could’ve gone wrong to cause it, well that is what I will be describing today.

Back in 1911, there was a large company fire and many of the workers were not able to escape. More than one hundred were killed. There is also a lot of unsafe gas in the air inside factories that can cause people to become ill. The Adamson Act combined with another act in 1916 called the Workingman’s Compensation Act, which helped injured workers still get paid, increased the amount of money that farmers and industrial workers made.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire was a devastating fire that killed 146 girls in New York City (Leap for Life, Leap for Death). At this time, citizens of New York were furious and demanded that the government do something to prevent future tragedies. The government responded and the reforms that the government made, it changed the future of New York industry. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, one of history’s deadliest fires, came as a result of outrageously unsafe working conditions, led to a high death toll and injury total, but, ultimately resulted in reforms that helped safeguard future factory workers.

As a result, from 1860 to 1900 alone, the number of urban areas in the United States expanded fivefold (Source 2). The immigrants who desperately needed employment and the greed of factory owners made the rise of sweat shops astonishing. Around the country low-paid immigrants, including women and children, worked for excessively long