Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Essay

Because they were poor immigrants who barely knew English, factory owners could easily take advantage of them. They use this to explain why America was so motivated by the fire, which helped push for industrial reforms. Other scholars focus on the horrible working conditions in the factory and the sensationalized newspaper stories and images to explain how this caused Americans to blame the factory owners for their poor treatment of workers. Americans’ outrage and blame of the owners helped increase support for reform. They agree that the Triangle fire added fuel to the Progressive movement and served as one of many pieces of evidence that helped in reforming labor laws.

For this assignment, I reviewed the Great Fire of Chicago that occurred on October 8, 1871. A man-made hazard that has a lot of similarities to this fire would be the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. This fire happened on March 25, 1911, and was one of the most notorious industrial fires that have occurred in the United States. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire happened in the Asch Building located in downtown Manhattan. There were around 230-275 workers distributed throughout two floors when the fire broke out at quitting time.

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.

Some believe it could have been because of a cigarette that was thrown close to some flammable, a machine, or even a faculty in electricity. The outcome of this horrible disaster caused 146 deaths. Within the eighteen minutes it lasted, all of these workers tried to save their lives by trying to escape in different ways. Some tried using one out of the four elevators

If a worker whined about their low wage or the long hours spent working they would be fired, and the owners would hire a new worker. Most of the time the workers didn’t get any time off for breaks or even going to the bathrooms. It wasn’t just young women who had to work in the harsh factory conditions. Children also worked in the factory because their families need

The Triangle Fire of 1911 initiated transformations in America during the Progressive Era. The one hundred and forty six people who died who were mostly women, did not die in vain, as their deaths led to the reform of laws that would lead to protection from unsafe working environments. Business owners, workers, and union organizers each had their own motivations, and after the fire, their concerns were made public and consequently many of their situations changed. Business owners were stimulated by economic growth and profit, which did not change despite the Triangle fire. Most businesses, and that includes the Triangle Waist Company, carried on with a “business as usual” attitude.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was one such typical sweat shop. The owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, typically employed young Jewish immigrant girls who had come to the United States with their families in search of a better life for them and their loved ones. Instead, they encountered lives of relentless poverty and dismaying working conditions. Being immigrants who struggled with a new language and culture, the factory owners took advantage and made the working poor their ready

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.

Sadly, some 100 of those immigrants found death instead of wealth. In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory caught on fire, causing 146 women and girl to die; most of which were immigrants. The events before the fire, the tragic disaster, the laws that came about because of the fire, and another fire that occured after the factory disaster led to a

Automatic sprinklers, properly working fire escapes, and fire proof receptacles were among the recommendations for the businesses to instill. The fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory could have been prevented and more lives could have been saved if there were fireproof receptacles in the factory and were properly emptied. The fire spread so quickly trapping many inside. An article from the New York Times states “what burned so quickly and disastrously for the victims were shirtwaists, hanging on lines above tiers of workers, sewing machines placed so closely together that there was hardly aisle room for the girls between them, and shirtwaist trimmings and cuttings which littered the floors above the eighth and ninth stories” (141 men, 1911). The trimmings that laid among the floor is what caused the fire to spread so rapidly.

A fire started in a rag bin on the eighth floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory building in Manhattan, New York on Saturday, March 25, 1911. There were six hundred people working in the factory at the time of the fire, and almost all of them were poor, immigrant, teenage women. A total of one hundred forty-five people died as a result of the unsafe building: the fire extinguishers had hoses that were rusted shut, the doors at the bottom of the stairwell were locked, the stairwell was not fireproof, and the workers panicked and had no idea what to do because there had never been any fire drills. Fire trucks responded quickly, but their equipment was inadequate: their ladders were too short and their safety nets ripped easily. The fire was

Progressives played a significant role in tending to all of the industrial related issues and this event really opened their eyes to many of the ongoing problems. In a Cornell University article, it was said “This incident has had great significance to this day because it highlights the inhumane working conditions to which industrial workers can be subjected” (Triangle Fire). To many, its horrors epitomize the extremes of industrialism”. During this time, the factory was like any other factory that had workers who were paid bare minimum wages and worked long shifts in unsafe and filthy conditions. It also caught the attention of Progressives because of all the problems immigrants faced because “Many of the Triangle factory workers were women, some as young as 14 years old.

Could the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory have been prevented? My answer to that question is no. Like I pointed out once before when the blaze happened modern fire science and technology was not yet invented. I also think the fire was a valuable lesson and motivator to prevent more

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