Triangle: The Fire That Changed America

Exploration and invention were the two faces on the coin of progress, and progress was the spirit of the age

The young immigrants in the garment factories, alight with a spirit of progress, impatient with the weight of tradition, hungry for improvement in a new land and a new century, organized themselves to demand a more fair and humane society.

From the summer of 1909 to the end of 1911, New York waist makers - young immigrants, mostly women - achieved something profound. They were a catalyst for the forces of change: the drive for women's rights (and other civil rights), the rise of unions, and the use of activist government to address social problems.

Lower East Side socialism favored the worker over the boss and the group over the individual.

Next, the bystanders saw something large and dark fall from one of the windows. “Someone’s in there, all right,” said a voice in the crowd. “He’s trying to save his best cloth.” When the next bundle began falling, the onlookers realized that it was a human being.

They heard Rose Pastor Stokes quote Marx: “Workers, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains—and you have the world to gain.

The mansion and its furnishings cost nine million dollars—the equivalent of more than 150 million dollars today. “Extravagance and ostentation marked every social gathering” at Marble House, the New York Times observed, and “the jewels worn at balls were valued in the millions of dollars.