The Boston Molasses Flood – 21 people killed in Boston streets by tidal wave of Molasses (1919)
The Great Molasses Flood (aka Boston Molasses Disaster) At the time, molasses was a common sweetener and used to produce ethanol for alcoholic beverages and military munitions. It was of course, in high demand. The five-story tall steel tank at 529 Commercial Street in Boston held 2.3 million gallons of molasses weighing an astonishing 26 million pounds. On January 15, 1919, the weather was warmer than normal, allowing the molasses inside the tank to heat up and thin. At 12:30 in the afternoon, persons in the area heard a “sound like a rumble” and the ground shook. The Purity Distilling Company molasses tank had burst, releasing millions of gallons of molasses into the streets of Boston. The tidal wave of molasses that rushed through the streets of