Moving out of Tenements and into Factories Leads to a Tragedy
While assembly and manufacturing moved out tenements and into factories, conditions didn’t improve. Factories were housed in the cheapest, unsafe spaces. The buildings were deteriorated and overcrowded, with few safety precautions. Overcrowded, unsafe conditions led to tragedies like the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire. On March 25, 1911, fire broke out in a rag bin, and quickly spread due to many fire hazards, witnesses said the exits were locked to prevent theft. The lone fire escape broke apart as the occupants fled the factory. Women jumped from the factory, located on the 8th to 10th floor of its building, to escape the fire. Their escape was fatal; they would die upon impacting the sidewalk. The youngest victims among the 146 workers killed were Kate Leone, whose skull was fractured jumping out of a window, and Rosaria Maltese, who suffered burns in the fire. They were only fourteen years old.