ABSTRACT
On March 25, 1911, less than one year before the famous 1912 Bread and
Roses textile workers’ strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, began, 146 garment
workers died and more than 70 workers were injured in the Triangle shirt-
waist factory fire in New York City. Since March 25, 1961, the 50th anniversary
of the Triangle fire, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU)
and its successors, along with the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), have
held an annual joint memorial ceremony at the site of the Triangle fire at the
former Asch Building, now the Brown Building of Science, owned by New York
University (NYU). On March 25 each year, dignitaries and the public solemnly
place flowers and wreaths below the three plaques on the corner of the building
at Washington Place and Greene Street. The ILGWU, which represented most
of the workers who died in the fire, placed the first plaque there in 1961. The
second plaque, placed in 1991, cites the building in the National Register of
Historic Places, and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
placed the third plaque in 2003. March 25, 2011 marked the centennial of the
Triangle factory fire.
