Triangle shirtwaist factory fire

conflagration, New York City, New York, United States [1911]
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Quick Facts
Date:
March 25, 1911
Location:
New York
New York City
United States

Triangle shirtwaist factory fire, fatal conflagration that occurred on the evening of March 25, 1911, in a New York City sweatshop, touching off a national movement in the United States for safer working conditions. The fire—likely sparked by a discarded cigarette—started on the eighth floor of the Asch Building, 23–29 Washington Place, just east of Washington Square Park. That floor and the two floors above were occupied by the Triangle Waist Company, a manufacturer of women’s shirtwaists (blouses) that employed approximately 500 people. The flames, fed by copious cotton and paper waste, quickly spread upward to the top two floors ...(100 of 355 words)