From The Peopling of New York City
Triangle Waist Company
The Triangle shirtwaist factory fire took place on March 25, 1911 in the Asch building located between Washington Place and Greene Street. The fire was the most horrifying factory fire New Yorkers had ever seen. It cost 146 lives of mostly young Eastern European immigrant women and some men. The owners Max Blanck and Isaac Harris had locked many of the factory doors, in order to prevent the employees from stealing garments from the factory. As a result, many people die because of poor communication among the three floors of the factory and because of poor fire regulation laws of New York City. Once the fire started it spread out within minutes blocking off the only open exits. Thus, many people were trap between lock doors and the blazing fire. After the fire most of the victims were hardly noticeable. After weeks of searching family members found their mothers, sister, brothers, and wives. All but six victims were indentified these poor victims were buried after the mayor made the decision to bury them.[1]
“My building is fireproof,” Joseph J. Asch argued with reporters after the fire and when he returned from Florida to his Connecticut house. The Asch building cost $400,000 and it was built over two lots that measured 25- by 100-foot and 75- by 100-foot. The building was 135 feet high and it was completed on January 15, 1901. The New York state law required that any building at 150-feet tall must have metal frames, trims, and stone or concrete floors. But the Asch building being only 135-feet high wooden frames, trims and floors were allowed, which resulted in one of the reasons of why the fire spread out quicker. Other laws for staircases, fire escapes, and fire sprinklers were either ignored or were not required at the time.[2]
March 25, 1911 was not the first fire that Max Blanck and Isaac Harris had in their business. Leon Stein lists the following chart from their records:
April 5, 1902- 5:18 A.M., ninth floor, Asch Building. Cause unknown. Insurance collected: $19,142.
November 1, 1902-6:00 A.M., ninth floor, Asch Building. Cause unknown. Insurance collected: $12,905
November 10, 1904-6:57 P.M., dwelling of Isaac Harris, 845West End Avenue. Cause, carelessness with matches. Loss, small. Insurance collected: Amount Unknown.
April 7, 1905-11:00 P.M., Factory of Triangle Waist Company, 49 West Third St. Cause, unknown. Fire did not originate on premises. Insurance collected: Amount: unascertainable.
April 12, 1907-1:15 A.M., Diamond Waist Company, owned and operated by Triangle at 165 Mercer Street. Insurance collected. Amount unascertainable.
In 1908 and 1909-exact dates unascertainable-2 small fires, probably caused by smoking, occurred at Triangle. They were put out at once. No insurance claims were made.
April 27, 1910-7:18 P.M., at Diamond Waist Company, 187 Mercer Street. Cause unknown. $17,000 insurance carried. Amount collected unascertainable.[3]
At the Triangle factory, the ninth floor had 250 sewing machines that filled the entire floor. There were sixteen parallel rows on eight tables that were 75 feet long and each row had about fifteen machines. The tables were arranged so the aisles between the machines were very packed. The exit to the Greene Street elevators and windows facing NYU across the backyard had 15 feet space. Leon Stein notes, “The machines heads were set into a single work table running the full 75 feet.” The Triangle Shirtwaist factory is a perfect example of the many unsafe work places that exist during the twentieth-century. The ninth floor was the very place that many of the Triangle workers burned or jump out of the windows to their death because of weak laws that did not protect workers rights and safety.[4]
As part of Professor Wills CHC-2 The Peopling of New York City our goal was to choose five victims amoung the 146 victims who died in the Triangle factory and to investigate their lives. The five victims that I chose were Abraham Binevitz, Mary Herman, Nettie Leibowitz, Frances Mariole, and Louis Rosen. I started my research at the New York Public Library; unfortunately, I did not find much information the first day. When looking through the 1910 census from a book it was horrible. There were so many names that look just like the people I was looking for. An example is Abraham Binevitz who was not under this name but I think I found him under the name Abraham Robinowitz. I conclude that I will not go far with the book census so I started looking through the New York Times archives[5] I found some articles and this picture:
Not finding much that day I stopped. In the following day Amy, Majid, and I went to the Municipal Archives on 31 Chamber St. and found information on the death certificates of our people.
Frances Mariole [10215] was a 21 years old woman who was single and worked as an operator. She was born in Italy and her parents names were Nicolo and Tiresa. She lived in the United States for five years. She was buried in Calvary Cemetery.[6]
Bettina Maile was an 18 years old girl who was single and worked as a dressmaker. Her death certificate number was 10074 M400.She was born in Italy and she is the sister of Frances Mariole. Her father is listed as Nicholas, also born in Italy (as are both parents), and died at 27 Washington Pl. From multiple injuries, jumped from window, buried on 3-26-11 at Calvary Cemetery.[7]
Click here to learn more about Frances Miale and her sister.
Unlike the 1910 Census Abraham Binevitz had his name spelled on the death certificate the same way as it is in the Von Drehl book. According to his death certificate [10020] he was a 30 years old man who was single and worked as a shirt maker at the Triangle shirtwaist factory. He was born in Russia and his parents names are Sam and Marian. He lived in the Untied States and New York City for six years. He was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery.[8]
Click here to learn more about Abraham Binevitz.
Mary Herman’’ [10338] was a 40 years old woman who was divorced and worked as a finisher. She was born in Austria and her parents names were Maurice Herman and Mollie Brillinus. She lived in the United States for six months. She was buried in Mt. Cherea Cemetery. I also from the Census that she had two children I was able to read one of her sons names which was Solomon. In the 1920 Census I found that he was in the military as a private.[9]
Click here to learn more about Mary Herman.
Louis Rosen’’ [10263] was a 33 years old man who was married and worked as an operator. He was born in Russia and his parents names were Yanki and Freida Perkin. He lived in the United States for four months. He was buried in Ocean view Cemetery.[10]
Click here to learn more about Louis Rosen.
Nettie Leibowitz’’ [10279] was a 23 years old woman who was single and worked as a draper. She was born in Romania and her parents names were Soloman and Bertrude. She lived in the United States for one and the half year. She was buried in Montefiore Springfield Cemetery.[11]
Click here to learn more about Nettie Lefkowitz.
Reference
1. Von Drehle, David. Triangle the fire that changed America. Grove Press 2003, New York, N.Y.
2. Stein Leon. The Triangle Fire. call number JLD 89 1660 at NYPL or F128.5.s83 at Brooklyn College Library , J.B. Lippincott Company 1962, Ithaca, N.Y.
3. F. McClymer, John. The Triangle Strike and Fire, Harcourt Brace and Company 1998, Orlando, Florida.
4. Llewellyn, Chris. Fragments from the Fire, Penguin Books 1987, New York, N.Y.
5. Red Cross Emergency Relief Committee of the Charity Organization Society of the City of New York, Emergency Releif After Washington Place Fire, New York, March 25, 1911: Report of the Red Cross Emergency Relief Committee of the Charity Organization Society of the City of New York. (NYPL call number: SHD p.v.68, no.8), (New York, 1912)
6. Maltese, Serphin. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory: A Memorial Compilation and testament to the 146 victims, their families and those heroic immigrants whose labor and sacrifice made America Great, March 25, 2006, State Capitol, Albany New York. Call number at NYPL: IRGC 06-4912
7. Municipal Archives- Death Certificates Manhattan Death Certificates 1911 film containing numbers 9995-10952
8. New York City Directories at the New Public Library, Brooklyn College Library, Directories on the NYPL research databases.
9. Census books (indexes) at the NYPL library (nothing)
10. http://www.heritagequestonline.com
11. http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&=%2c%2c%2c%2c%2c%2c%2c%2c%2c%2c%2c%2c%2c%2c%2c%2c%2c%2c%2c&gsfn=Mary&gsln=Herman&gsby=&gsb2co=5028%2cAustria&gsb2pl=1%2c+&gsdy=1911&gsd2co=2%2cUSA&gsd2pl=35%2cNew+York&sbo=0&sbor=&ufr=0&wp=4%3b_80000002%3b_80000003&srchb=r&prox=1&ti=0&ti.si=0&gss=angs-b&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&recid=51275815&recoff=1+2&db=1910USCenIndex&indiv=1
12. http://www.nytimes.com
a. (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=980CE1D61331E233A25755C2A9659C946096D6CF&scp=17&sq=The+Triangle+Shirt+waist+factory+Fire&st=p)
b. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D05E5DD1431E233A2575BC2A9659C946096D6CF&scp=2&sq=march+28%2C+1911+and+the+triangle+fire&st=p
References
- ↑ Von Drehle, David. Triangle the fire that changed America. Grove Press 2003, New York, N.Y.
- ↑ Stein Leon. The Triangle Fire. call number JLD 89 1660 at NYPL or F128.5.s83 at Brooklyn College Library , J.B. Lippincott Company 1962, Ithaca, N.Y.
- ↑ Stein Leon. The Triangle Fire. call number JLD 89 1660 at NYPL or F128.5.s83 at Brooklyn College Library , J.B. Lippincott Company 1962, Ithaca, N.Y.
- ↑ Stein Leon. The Triangle Fire. call number JLD 89 1660 at NYPL or F128.5.s83 at Brooklyn College Library , J.B. Lippincott Company 1962, Ithaca, N.Y.
- ↑ (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=980CE1D61331E233A25755C2A9659C946096D6CF&scp=17&sq=The+Triangle+Shirt+waist+factory+Fire&st=p.
- ↑ Municipal Archives- Death Certificates Manhattan Death Certificates 1911 film containing numbers 9995-10952
- ↑ Municipal Archives- Death Certificates Manhattan Death Certificates 1911 film containing numbers 9995-10952
- ↑ Municipal Archives- Death Certificates Manhattan Death Certificates 1911 film containing numbers 9995-10952
- ↑ Municipal Archives- Death Certificates Manhattan Death Certificates 1911 film containing numbers 9995-10952
- ↑ Municipal Archives- Death Certificates Manhattan Death Certificates 1911 film containing numbers 9995-10952
- ↑ Municipal Archives- Death Certificates Manhattan Death Certificates 1911 film containing numbers 9995-10952
