Asch Building - Washington Place & Greene St.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist company was located in the Asch Building on the corner of Greene St. and Washington Place, one block East of Washington Square. It employed hundreds of seamstresses - mostly immigrant girls under the age of 25.

Before that year, there had been strikes to improve the working conditions in the garment industry. In 1909 and 1910, thousands of garment industry workers struck for shorter hours and better working conditions. They asked for measures such as fire-escapes and firedoors, proper storage of flammable materials, as well as a 60 hour work-week and higher hourly pay.

But as in previous years, nothing came of it. City government was in the hands of political machines that supported industry's resistance to change. With thousands of immigrants pouring through Ellis Island each day, workers were a dime a dozen, and strikes were easily broken.

Asch Building - 25 March 1911

The Fire
Saturday March 25th, 1911 - 4:45PM: just before the end of the day-shift, a fire breaks out on the top three floors of the Triangle Factory. Within minutes, they are engulfed in flame. The internal staircase is on fire, and there are no external fire escapes. It is never clear how it started, but with scraps of flammable cloth lying all over the factory floor, any misplaced cigarette could have been responsible.

The fire trucks arrive quickly, but their efforts prove ineffective. The pressure from the hoses will not reach the top floors; the ladders only reach as high as the 6th. As the fire sweeps through the factory floors, the employees are forced to the ledges outside.

Hundreds of people gather below in horrified awe of the spectacle. Young girls are being burned alive in plain view, and firemen are helpless. Dozens of girls jump to their deaths just to avoid the flames. Later, by-standers would remember the awful sound of their bodies hitting the pavement. In less than half and hour, 146 people would perish.

Garment Workers Protesting - 1911

Aftermath
The building was fireproof, which is why it's still here, but the people were not. But after years of turning a deaf ear to workers' pleas, politicians were finally forced to respond.

Within a month of the fire, the governor of New York appointed the Factory Investigating Commission. For five years, this commission conducted a series of hearings that resulted in the passage of important factory safety legislation, requiring the use of automatic fire sprinklers, ventilation shafts, fire escapes, firedoors, longer ladders and better hoses on fire trucks, and others.

Frances Perkins, later to become Secretary of Labor under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, watched the Asch Building burn, an event that influenced her decision to become a lifelong advocate for workers.