On this day, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire took 146 lives. Owned by a pair of Jewish men named Isaac Harris and Max Blanck, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company was New York City’s biggest manufacturer of shirtwaists, a blouse style that was popular among women at the time. Located at the top three floors of the 10-story Asch Building, the company employed nearly a thousand workers during their busiest season. On the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place, off of Washington Square, the Asch Building became the site of New York City’s worst disaster until 9/11.It was a Saturday afternoon and the workday was ending when a fire started on the eighth floor of the Asch Building. At the time of the fire, approximately 600 workers were in the building. The source of the fire is still debated: Some say it was a cigarette, aimlessly tossed, while others claim it was a lighted match dropped in a bin of fabric scraps, or even a bad sewing machine engine.Three months prior to the fire, the New York City Fire Commissioner declared the Asch Building to be a firetrap, and rightfully so. A lack of stairways, plus the maze of shop floors and locked doors, meant that hundreds of employees were trapped the minute they walked onto the top three floors. The deadly fire rapidly spread from the eighth floor upward. Some on the eighth and tenth floors managed to escape by taking either the staircase or the roof, but workers on the ninth floor were entirely trapped. The single fire escape in the building had bent out of shape from the heat of the fire, and the firetrucks that had arrived at the scene were inadequately tall enough to reach the top three floors.In less than 20 minutes, the Asch Building became a site of colossal tragedy. Faced with death by fire, many workers chose to jump to their death; others attempted to escape by elevator, but in the end they were just another pile of bodies. The lives of 146 people — mainly Jewish immigrant women between the ages of 13 and 23 — were taken in that short time frame. The fire was put out in less than an hour, and the building mostly remained intact. A week after the fire, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory reopened in a new building.After the fire, Blanck and Harris were put on trial for manslaughter. Though they were acquitted of these charges, they were ordered to pay $75 to each of the 23 families that sued them for damages.What followed the fire was a widespread public response, demanding justice for those who were killed. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire triggered protests among the Jewish community, as well as the general progressive public. These protests influenced the creation of the New York State Committee on Safety, that investigated the circumstances and then recommended that a committee be permanently established, considering the safety specifically of factories. On June 30, 1911, the Factory Investigation Commission was established by the New York State Legislature. Within four years, the Factory Investigation Commission helped pass 36 statues that dealt with regulation, child labor, work hours, safety measures, and more. As devastating as it was, the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire marked an important point in American history; one that was unmistakably Jewish in its own right. The fight for labor rights during the modern era took place in New York City, the center of Jewish life in America at the time. The death of the 146 Asch Building factory workers transformed the rights of the working class in America, and shifted the perceptions of social justice and the power of the public. Today, the building is part of New York University, and the events of that dark Saturday afternoon in 1911 are commemorated annually.