It was around 4:30 in the afternoon on March 25, 1911. Several hundred workers, mostly young women, were nearing the end of their Saturday shift at a blouse or “shirtwaist” factory in New York City. No one is quite sure how, but a massive fire erupted and spread quickly.
Most of the doors had been locked by the factory owners, probably to prevent theft and keep workers from taking breaks. In the end, 146 died, and this horrible event went down in history as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.