January 15, 1919: The Great Molasses Flood In Boston

January 15, 1919: The Great Molasses Flood strikes the North End of Boston.

The Purity Distilling Company had a 50-foot-tall molasses tank at 529 Commercial Street, between Commercial Street and the Charles River, across from the Copps Hill Burying Ground, part of the Freedom Trail.

In January 1919, it had been colder than usual in Boston. But on the 15th, the temperature rose to 40 degrees. This caused the molasses to expand, and break through the tank at about 12:30 PM. Witnesses compared the sound of the explosion to that of a thunderclap, and the sound of the rushing molasses to that of an elevated train passing. There was damage to an actual elevated railway, which later became part of the MBTA Green Line. That line has since been rerouted underground.

Several blocks were flooded, up to 3 feet. People were swept away, and the headline in the photo above contained only early casualty totals. Ultimately, it was determined that 21 people died, and over 150 were injured. Given that this was still the early days of the automobile, and the North End has narrow, twisting streets (even more so than most of Boston, as it's the oldest part of the earliest-developed city in America, though not the oldest), it shouldn't be surprising that an unknown, but large, number of horses were also killed.

For months afterward, people claimed they could still smell the molasses. It got worse in the Summer, when the residue added to the humidity. And 1919 and 1920 were years of terror, as many anarchist bombs were set off in America, particularly in Massachusetts. This led to suspicion that the molasses tank explosion may have been due to a bomb. No evidence of this was ever found.

Today, the site of the tank is a baseball field, in what's known as Langone Park.

*

January 15, 1919 was a Wednesday. This was also the day that Rosa Luxemburg was assassinated, marking the end of the Spartacist Uprising in Germany. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball and football were in their off-seasons. Professional basketball was minor-league at best. And while the NHL season was underway, no games were scheduled for the day. So there were no scores on this historic day.