On January 15, 1919, a molasses storage tank collapsed in Boston's North End, sending two million gallons of the substance flowing down the street, destroying property, and taking lives.
It was the 'Great Molasses Flood' of 1919 in Boston, Massachusetts. It was January 15th in the early afternoon and the temperature was warm for that time of year, 45 degrees, up from the single digits just a couple of day before. The United States Industrial Alcohol Company had two and a half million gallons of molasses brewing fifty feet above the street that was slated to make rum. No one expect