The following is an encore presentation of Everything Everywhere Daily.

On March 25, 1911, one of the deadliest industrial disasters in American history took place.

In the middle of Manhattan, a fire broke out in a garment factory that killed 146 people.

Most of the deaths were totally preventable, and the legacy of that incident had repercussions that still exist today.

Learn more about the Triangle Shirt Waste Factory Fire and its legacy

on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Valley. Before I get started talking about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire,

I probably need to explain exactly what a shirt waste is because it isn't a word that most people are familiar

with anymore. A shirt waste was a woman's garment which was a type of blouse with elements taken

from men's shirts such as cuffs and a collar. A waste was a general term for a woman's top, which is a use of the word

which is no longer used today. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, shirt waste were

worn by most women in that era.

If you see any photos of women from this period such as suffragettes,

they are most probably wearing a shirt waist.

With that being said, Manhattan was a very different place 110 years ago.

Today it's almost entirely residential and white collar businesses.

Back then, however, it was a hotbed of industrial activity.

Newly arrived immigrants could get work, albeit low paying work, at any number of factories in Manhattan.

Garment factories were popular places for young immigrant women to find work.

These factories were much better known as sweatshops. The

Triangle Waste Company was founded in 1900 by two Russian Jewish immigrants,

Isaac Harris and Max Blanche, who became known as the shirt-waist Kings.

The woman's shirt-waist business was a huge industry.

...