The Triangle Shirtwaist Company 100 Years Later

100 years ago a fire broke out in a sweat shop in a building in Greenwich Village. That building was very well constructed andit is still standing today, a block from Washington Square Park.  Now it houses classrooms for New York University.  As it happens, I live near by.  When the fire broke out, the building did not burn, only the things in it.  And the people.  The sweat shop was the Triangle Shirtwaist Company.  Several hundred workers were crowded into the top 2 floors. The owners had locked the stairway doors to keep out union organizers.  There were no fire escapes.  Witnesses describe what looked like flaming bundles of rags falling to the street.  Those were the bodies of workers who jumped to escape the inferno.  146 people died that day.  Most were young immigrant girls. This weekend there was a memorial to remember them. 146 roses, each with the name of one of the dead, were placed on the sidewalk in front of that building.  Several roses carried the tag ”unknown” for those who were never identified.  The owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company were never prosecuted.