Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Timeline

The company's owners, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris—both Jewish immigrants—survived the fire by fleeing to the building's roof when it began.

In mid-April 1911, the company's owners, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, were indicted on charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter for their role in the deadly fire.

The trial of Max Blanck and Isaac Harris began on December 4, 1911, nearly nine months after the fire that killed 146 workers at their factory.

The jury acquitted Max Blanck and Isaac Harris of first- and second-degree manslaughter charges arising from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

Although criminally acquitted, Blanck and Harris were found liable of wrongful death during a subsequent civil suit in 1913, in which plaintiffs were awarded compensation of $75 per deceased victim.

In the summer of 1913, Max Blanck was once again arrested for locking the door in the factory during working hours, showing that safety violations continued even after the tragedy.

In 1918, the two partners, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, closed the Triangle Waist Company and went their separate ways.

Sholem Asch's 1946 novel East River tells the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire through the eyes of an Irish girl who was working at the factory at the time of the fire.

Image source: East River

American Pop (1981), an adult animated musical drama film written by Ronni Kern and directed by Ralph Bakshi, features a scene where one character's mother is killed in the fire.

Image source: American Pop

Fragments from the Fire: The Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire of March 25, 1911 is a book of poetry by Chris Llewellyn published in 1987.

Image source: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire

"My Little Shirtwaist Fire" by Rasputina appeared on their 1996 album Thanks for the Ether, referencing the tragic fire in song.

Image source: Thanks for the Ether

Naomi Wallace's 1996 play Slaughter City includes a character, the Textile Worker, who was killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, and the play was inspired by several labor events throughout the 20th century, including the fire.

Episode 4 of Ric Burns' 1999 PBS series New York: A Documentary Film, "The Power and the People (1898–1918)", extensively covered the fire.

In Ain Gordon's play Birdseed Bundles (2000), the Triangle Fire is a major dramatic engine of the story.

The Living Century: Three Miracles (2001) premiered on PBS, focusing on the life of 107-year-old Rose Freedman, who became the last living survivor of the fire.

Triangle, a 2006 novel by Katharine Weber, tells the story of the last living survivor of the fire, whose story hides the truth of her experience on March 25, 1911, raising questions about who owns history.

Fire in my mouth (2018), a 60-minute oratorio for 146 female voices and orchestra by Julia Wolfe, premiered with The Crossing, The Young People's Chorus of New York City, and The New York Philharmonic under Jaap van Zweden at David Geffen Hall on January 24, 2019.

Every year beginning in 2004, Ruth Sergel and volunteer artists went across New York City on the anniversary of the fire to inscribe in chalk the names, ages, and causes of death of the victims in front of their former homes.

The Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition is an alliance of more than 200 organizations and individuals formed in 2008 to encourage and coordinate nationwide activities commemorating the centennial of the fire and to create a permanent public art memorial.

From July 2009 to the weeks leading up to the 100th anniversary, the Coalition served as a clearinghouse to organize some 200 activities including academic conferences, films, theater performances, art shows, concerts, readings, walking tours, and parades across the nation.

At 4:45 pm EST on the fire's 100th anniversary—the moment the first fire alarm was sounded in 1911—hundreds of bells rang out in cities and towns across the nation.

In 2012, the Coalition signed an agreement with NYU granting permission to install a memorial on the Brown Building and, in consultation with the Landmarks Preservation Commission, indicated what elements of the building could be incorporated into the design.

On December 22, 2015, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that $1.5 million from state economic development funds would be earmarked to build the Triangle Fire Memorial.

On September 16, 2019, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren recounted the story of the fire and its legacy before a crowd of supporters, likening activism for workers' rights after the 1911 fire to her own presidential platform.

The memorial was officially unveiled on October 11, 2023, more than a century after the fire occurred, honoring the victims at the site of the 1911 fire in lower Manhattan.

An additional vertical steel ribbon was installed in June 2024; it extends up the side of the building, dividing into two at the third floor, and eventually reaching the ninth floor, where many of the workers were trapped and from which many jumped.