How a company took shortcuts, got greedy, and caused Boston’s deadly molasses disaster that brought the city to its knees.
Surreal Photos of Boston’s Deadly Molasses Flood of 1919
Have you ever heard the saying “slower than molasses”? Turns out that’s not true. Molasses can move quite quickly – a fact Bostonians learned the hard way nearly a century ago during what was one of the strangest disasters in American history.
Just following 12:30 p.m. on January 15, 1919, a Purity Distilling Company molasses storage tank exploded in the North End. No less than 2.3 million gallons of molasses spilled.
The resulting deluge, known as the Boston Molasses Disaster, reached a few 25 feet high at its peak. It swept through Commercial Street at speeds of up to 35 miles per hour.
The wave spread within a two-block radius. He razed offices and houses and raised a fire station from its foundations. He swept away the vehicles and the horse-drawn carriages. The molasses even moved with enough force to deform the beams of the elevated railroad tracks on Atlantic Avenue. Those who stood in the way of the flood were swept away, crushed or drowned.
To make matters worse, the molasses thickened once exposed to the winter air. After the surge subsided, dozens of people lay buried under a substance thousands of times more viscous than water. First responders at the scene had to wade through molasses feet to search for survivors.
Describing the rescue effort, a Boston Post journalist wrote:
“Here and there thrashed regarding a form – whether it was an animal or a human being, it was impossible to tell. Only an upheaval, a stirring in the sticky mass, showed where all life was… The horses died like so many flies on a sticky fly – The more they struggled, the more ensnared they were. Human beings—men and women—suffered alike.
Over the next four days, Red Cross workers, police, firefighters, and army and navy personnel searched the rubble. In total, the Boston Molasses Disaster claimed 21 lives and injured 150 while causing more than $7 million in property damage (which would equate to over $100 million today).
The owners of Purity Distilling, the United States Industrial Alcohol Company (USIA), claimed anarchists blew up the tank in protest. Local residents, however, reported that the reservoir had leaked since its construction. A series of civil lawsuits followed.
In reality, a few different factors contributed to the initial explosion behind the Boston Molasses Disaster. Poor quality construction, lax safety testing and years of repeated overfilling have weakened the tank.
This became dangerous when combined with molasses’ natural propensity to ferment and produce ethanol. In fact, Purity Distilling was counting on this because they sold this ethanol, which was, in turn, an essential component in the manufacture of munitions.
But more than that ethanol, it was carbon dioxide, another byproduct of fermentation, that played a central role in the Boston molasses disaster, along with unusual weather conditions. A few warm winter days (by Boston standards, anyway) sped up the fermentation and increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the tank. As the internal pressure increased, it pushed the already fragile tank past its breaking point.
After three years of hearings, the USIA has paid over $600,000 in out-of-court settlements to the victims and their families (that would be over $8.4 million today).
Now much of the site of the Boston Molasses Disaster now rests in Langone Park. The only sign that the disaster ever happened is a commemorative plaque at the entrance to the park.
After this look at the Great Molasses Flood, read regarding the London beer flood of 1814.
