Next Up in Fiber Nation: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, Part 1

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On a warm spring day in 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York. Within minutes it engulfed the top three stories of the factory building. 146 people died in the blaze; 123 of them were young women who worked there. It was one of the worst industrial disasters in the United States.

You can find Part 2 of this special, two-part episode here: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, Part 2

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Listen to the Episode

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The full story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory began two years before the fire, with a massive labor strike. As part of the latest wave of immigrants, thousands of young Jewish women had gone to work in garment factories. There they sewed the white blouses or “shirtwaists” worn by every woman at the time, rich or poor. By 1909 there were over 500 shirtwaist factories in Manhattan alone, and the Triangle Factory was the largest.

Factory work was difficult and demeaning. Long hours, lousy pay, no safety regulations, and male floor managers whose behavior ranged from creepy to abusive were the norm. The fledgling labor movement had fought for years to improve worker conditions, but with little success. Then a woman named Clara Lemlich stepped into the fray and into history.

A devout communist born in Ukraine, Clara devoted all of her remarkable energy to organizing garment workers in Manhattan, including those at the Triangle Factory. A fiery speech she gave led to the “Uprising of 20,000,” an 11-week general strike that captured the attention of all New Yorkers.

Society women like Anne Morgan, the daughter of financier J.P. Morgan, and Alva Vanderbilt Belmont took up the cause of the strikers. Students from the Seven Sisters colleges marched in solidarity beside women from the Lower East Side.

Factory owners’ tactics of beating strikers or having them arrested backfired spectacularly. When people saw 15-year-old girls being shoved into jail cells alongside hardened criminals, they organized boycotts. Journalists skewered the owners in the press, and they eventually had to give in, accepting most of the workers’ demands.

Most, but not all. The workers wanted a 20% raise, better hours, safer conditions, and a unionized shop. They got the first two items, lost unionization, and pretty much forgot about safety regulations in their haste to settle. That would come back to haunt the owners and workers alike at the Triangle Factory, one year, one month, and seventeen days later.

This is part 1 of a special double episode of Fiber Nation. Happy listening,
—Allison

Links for this Episode

Triangle: The Fire that Changed America

Buy on Indiebound.
Buy on Amazon.

Overview of the Fire

• Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
• Triangle Shirtwaist fire kills 146 in New York City
• The Fire of a Movement
• The Fire that Sparked the Labor Movement

Life as a Garment Worker

Personal Accounts, including Clara Lemlich

• Clara Lemlich
• Rose Cohen
• Sadie Frowne

The Strike and Retaliation

• Uprising of 20,000 (1909)
• 1909 N.Y. Shirtwaist Workers Strike
• The Triangle Shirtwaist Strike
• The Rich Activists of New York’s “Mink Brigade”

Clara Lemlich

• Triangle Fire: One Woman Who Changed the Rules
• Clara Lemlich Sparks “Uprising of the 20,000”

Photo archives of workers, factories, strikes, and the fire. Includes political cartoons and commentary on working conditions

• Photos & Illustrations

Restored film footage of New York in 1911