Thread by @rebecca_fachner

Here it is! My 🧵 on the 110th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, one of the largest and most significant industrial disasters in American history. #TriangleShirtwaistFactory #WomensHistoryMonth #laborhistory
@tourguidetell

https://twitter.com/rebecca_fachner/status/1374787296738828292

This disaster is a fascinating intersection of women’s history and labor history, and imho does not get enough credit for being as influential as it was.
So let’s dig in, shall we?
#TriangleShirtwaistFactory
@tourguidetell

First off, what exactly is a shirtwaist??
Great question. It looks like this:

A shirtwaist was very en vogue at the turn of the 20th Cent. They could be very elaborate and luxurious, of course but mostly they were utilitarian. They offered women freedom of movement and were therefore able to be worn in many situations
#fashionhistory #TriangleFire

Shirtwaists were among the first mass produced clothing items and could be gotten cheaply. Obviously, if you SELL something for very little you have to MAKE it for even less. Otherwise no profits.

The undisputed kings of the shirtwaists were Isaac Harris and Max Blanck, owners of the Triangle factory.

The Triangle factory was located on floors 8, 9 and 10 of the Asch Bldg in lower Manhattan, in the heart of what was then the Garment district.

The Asch bldg is still there, it’s part of NYUs campus now.

A word about the building. It was a new construction, about 10 yrs old, and considered almost luxurious. It has (and has) large open spaces with huge windows. This allowed hundreds of workers to work together in the same room.
#TriangleShirtwaistFactory

Today we would instantly identify this as a sweatshop, and it absolutely was, but the owners remembered the dank dark tenements of their youth and thought these new conditions a big step up.
The workers, almost all women, did not really agree.

Hundreds of women elbow to elbow for up to 12 hours a day (!!) DID give them plenty of time to talk. And organize. And these new factories are going to significantly aid the growth of labor unions.

The Triangle owners had already beaten back one strike, and were in NO way union friendly. If you are beginning to suspect that they aren’t going to come out well in this story, you are correct
#TriangleShirtwaistFactory

Btn union hostility and low wages the Triangle factory employed only the most desperate: young, immigrant women. Working 6 days a week, 12 hour days (8 on Saturday) for about $6. A week.
Even adjusting for inflation, that was an appalling wage.
#TriangleShirtwaistFactory

As if this wasn’t bad enough, the owners routinely locked one of the 2 exits from the factory. They did this to prevent theft. Theft of material, yes, but also theft of time. Workers were supposed to work, not take unauthorized breaks. They got a lunch break, that was it.

If you’re angry yet, it’s about to get to lot worse.
#TriangleShirtwaistFactory #TriangleFire @tourguidetell

March 25, 1911 was a Saturday. Workers only worked an 8 hour day and the first started just before closing time, about 4:40. It’s impossible to know for sure but probably someone snuck a cigarette and didn’t put it out.
#TriangleShirtwaistFactory

It started on the 8th floor, and the workers there were mostly able to escape. They telephoned the 10th floor and many of them (incl the owners!) got to the roof. There was no telephone to the 9th floor and word reached them at the same time the fire did.
#TriangleFire

The 9th floor got the brunt of it. Cotton burns super fast and this fire was a monster. Additionally clothing scraps hadn’t been disposed of as they should have been so there was extra accelerant. #TriangleFire @tourguidetell

With one exit locked and the other quickly blocked by fire, workers had to make a split second decision that determined whether they lived or died.
#TriangleShirtwaistFactory

Those who could get to that elevators quickly, lived. In fact the 2 elevators operators heroically kept going back up to rescue women until the cables literally melted. Some women then jumped down the elevator shafts.
#TriangleFire

Some women made it to the fire escape, but it was not up to code and quickly buckled under the weight, plunging 20 women to their deaths.
Other women jumped out the windows of the factory, dying on impact.
#TriangleFire

The fire trucks did arrive, but their ladders only went up 7 stories which isn’t helpful if you’re on the 9th floor. Their nets were also useless in catching falling women.

Ultimately 146 people died. 123 women and 23 men. The youngest victims were a pair of 14 year old girls. Some were so badly disfigured it was hard to identify them
#TriangleShirtwaistFactory

All of this happened in less than 20 minutes, less than the time it’s taken me to write this.
#TriangleFire #TriangleShirtwaistFactory

The effect was immediate. 100,000 people marched in Manhattan 2 days later. Calls for unionization and political reform were rampant. New York City HAD to act.
#TriangleFire

NYC created factory investigation committees and a bill to grant a 54 work week passed in the NY state assembly. Union membership soared. Every prominent NY politician incl the Tammany Machine had to take a position on labor.

One of the largest and longest term effects was from an eyewitness. In fact had this been the only effect of the Fire it would remain incredibly significant. A woman named Frances Perkins was having lunch nearby and heard the commotion. Witnessing the fire would change her life.

For more detail on Perkins, I’m gonna refer you to my podcast @tourguidetell We have an episode about her dropping this evening. Suffice to say she becomes the first female cabinet secretary and author of Social Security.
#TriangleFire

By 1930, less than 20 years later, New York State was at the forefront of progressive labor legislation and union reform. THAT is what the Triangle Fire did, propelled NY from sweatshop conditions to the pinnacle of labor reform in 20 years.
#TriangleFire

146 workers, mostly women, died in terrible conditions, spurring on a national movement. That is their legacy. Today, at a time when unions are in retreat and when labor is not as valued, we would all do well to remember their sacrifice. #UnionStrong #TriangleShirtwaistFactory