March 25, 1911…

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York City’s’s Greenwich Village was one of the worst workplace disasters since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The fire took the lives of 146 young immigrant garment workers. It also galvanized a reform movement to raise standards for workers.

“It is by remembering our past that we prepare to fight for our future. We are measured by how we protect the most vulnerable and ensure their health and safety to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that is our guiding light.”

—D. Taylor, President, UNITE HERE

Firefighters struggled to save workers and control the blaze at what was then known as the Asch Building, on the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place. The tallest fire truck ladders reached only to the 6th floor, 30 feet below those standing on window ledges waiting for rescue. Many jumped from the windows to their deaths. Photographer: unknown, March 25, 1911.

An officer stands at the Asch Building’s 9th floor window after the Triangle Fire. Sewing machines, drive shafts, and other wreckage of the factory fire are piled in the center of the room. Photographer: Brown Brothers, 1911.

In the April 5th funeral procession for the seven unidentified fire victims, members of the United Hebrew Trades of New York and the Ladies Waist and Dressmakers Union Local 25, International Ladies Garment Workers Union, the local that organized Triangle Waist Company workers, carry banners proclaiming, “We Mourn Our Loss.” Photographer: unknown, April 5, 1911.

The Triangle Fire Memorial to the six unidentified victims in the Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY, was created in 1912 by Evelyn Beatrice Longman. The six bodies were all recently identified by Michael Hirsch, who worked tirelessly to recognize the names of the unidentified victims.

The tragedy still dwells in the collective memory of the nation and of the international labor movement. The events of the fire galvanized a reform movement to improve conditions in all workplaces by encouraging unions for workers. A nationwide adoption of fire safety standards soon followed, and new labor codes were implemented first in New York State, then across the country.

The victims names:

UNITE HERE is a proud successor union to the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, the union to which some Triangle factory workers belonged. Most years, UNITE HERE staff and members gather at the union headquarters in New York to remember the victims with a reading of their names and testimony from one of the survivors.

In the time since the fire, UNITE HERE members in the U.S. and Canada have continued the fight for safer jobs. We fight for workloads that are safe, for workplaces that are free from violence, for workers to have a voice in guiding safety procedures at their jobs, and for one job to be enough for workers to support themselves and their families.

As a union, we are also committed to helping working people of all backgrounds achieve greater social and economic equality through good jobs that are covered by union contracts. 

In 2023, a permanent memorial at the site of the fire was unveiled in memory of the workers, displaying their names along with spoken messages in three languages: English, Italian, and Yiddish.

The memorial tells the stories of the victims and is now a landmark site to visit, mourn, and learn at the very site where factory workers labored… and needlessly perished.

To learn more about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, visit Cornell University’s Kheel Center.