The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, which took place at the still-extant Asch (now Brown) Building at 23–29 Washington Place at Greene Street just east of Washington Square, was a seminal moment in local and national history. In just 15 minutes, 146 people were killed, almost all of whom were female immigrant workers who lived nearby. The horrible deaths were preventable, as employees were locked inside the factory. Multiple far-reaching reforms around labor, building, and fire codes, as well as increasing activism by and for women and immigrants, followed in its wake, and a generation of leaders were inspired by this tragedy.

Village Preservation works to illuminate the memory of this and so many other critical historic events and sites in our neighborhoods. With the annual commemoration of fire approaching, here’s a few ways that you can explore and learn more about it:

• Our Civil Rights and Social Justice Map 
• The landmark designation report for the building (all local landmark designation reports can be found here)
• Our public programs on the fire  (click on the “Events” filter to see programs only), including last week’s talk and pop-up exhibit with the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition (explore all our program videos here) 
• VILLAGE VOICES, our 2021-22 interactive public art installation that now lives permanently on our website 
• Our recent historic plaque unveiling on the home of Frances Perkins (see all of our plaques here) 
• Our historic image archive (click on the “image archive” filter to see images only)
• Our blog posts about the event  (click on the “blog” filter to see images only)