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Firefighters battling the blaze at the Asche Building,
home of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in March 1911.
146 people died and more than 70 injured. |
I was walking through Greenwich Village in New York City and remembered a documentary I had seen a few weeks back about the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911. I was surprised to find the scene was, well, remarkably unremarkable. As I was circling the building, the sky went dark and cool breeze came over the area. I remembered the black and white photographs I'd see of the bodies on the street of the women who had jumped to their deaths from the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of the building. They had no other choice after management had locked the exit doors, had no plan for evacuation and fire escapes that melted under the extreme heat of the fire. That day 146 people lost their lives - mostly young women in their teens and twenties. This tragic even paved the way for legislation and eventually organizations like OSHA dedicated to the protection of the American Worker.
Now what I didn't tell you is that as I rounded that corner, I walked into the shade of the building and happened across a breeze that often blows between buildings down a narrow street in the city. There was nothing ghostly about the shade or the cool breeze, but I couldn't help but feel a bit emotional to stand in its shadow, to stand on those sidewalks. Today, it is a very average looking building (now the chemistry and biology building of NYU) and relatively plain except for a small plaque on the Southwest corner noting its place in history.
