Today in LES History: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Kills 146 Garment Workers
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Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in 1911, Photo: WIki
On this day in…
1911 – The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire claimed the lives of 146 garment workers, predominantly teenage girls from the Lower East Side. Today, as has been tradition the last decade, the Chalk Project (courtesy of Street Pictures) fans out across the neighborhood to scrawl names of the fallen outside their former homes. It’s still moving to see these temporary tributes each year.
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Triangle Shirtwaist victim Joseph Wilson at 84 Chrystie St.
1974 – The Federation Joint Services for the Lower East Side was established at the Educational Alliance, bringing together several agencies to assist poor Jewish residents. Participating groups included Jewish Family Services, Jewish Association Serving the Aging (JASA), and the Federation Employment and Guidance Agency.
Today in LES History is compiled by Lower East Side History Project, an award-winning non-profit organization which offers research, consulting and daily public and private walking tours. See the full schedule here: http://leshp.org.
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