Boston molasses disaster

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Aftermath of the disaster

The Boston Molasses Disaster (also known as the Great Molasses Flood or The Great Boston Molasses Tragedy) occurred on January 15, 1919, in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts in the United States. A large molasses (treacle) tank burst and a wave of molasses ran through the streets at an estimated 35 MPH (56 km/h), killing twenty-one and injuring one hundred and fifty others. The event has entered local folklore, and residents claim that on hot summer days the area still smells of molasses^[1].

1 Sequence of events
2 Causes
3 References
4 Further reading
5 External links

[edit] Sequence of events

Modern downtown Boston with molasses flood area circled

The disaster occurred at the Purity Distilling Company facility on January 15, 1919, one day before the Eighteenth Amendment enabling Prohibition was ratified. January 15, 1919 was an unusually warm day. At the time, molasses was the standard sweetener across the United States (now supplanted by high fructose corn syrup). Molasses was also fermented (producing ethyl alcohol) for use in making liquor and as a key component in the manufacturing of munitions. The stored molasses was awaiting transfer to the Purity plant situated between Willow Street and what is now named Evereteze Way in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

At 529 Commercial Street, a huge molasses tank (50 ft (15 m) tall, 90 ft (27 m) in diameter and containing as much as 2.3 million US gallons (8,700 m³ or 8,700,000 litres)) collapsed. The collapse unleashed an immense wave of molasses between 8 and 15 ft (2.5 to 4.5 m) high, moving at 35 mph (56 km/h) and exerting a pressure of 2 ton/ft² (200 kPa). The molasses wave was of sufficient force to break the girders of the adjacent Boston Elevated Railway's Atlantic Avenue Elevated structure and lift a train off the tracks. Several nearby buildings were also destroyed, and several blocks were flooded to a depth of 2 to 3 feet. Twenty-one people were killed and 150 injured as the molasses crushed and asphyxiated many of the victims. Rescuers found it difficult to make their way through the syrup to help the victims.

Detail of molasses flood area. 1. Purity Distilling molasses tank 2. Firehouse 31 (heavy damage) 3. Paving department and police station 4. Purity offices (flattened) 5. Copps Hill Terrace 6. Boston Gas Light building (damaged) 7. Purity warehouse (mostly intact) 8. Residential area (site of flattened Clougherty house)

It took over six months to remove the molasses from the cobblestone streets, theaters, businesses, automobiles, and homes. The harbor ran brown until summer. Local residents brought a class-action lawsuit (one of the first held in Massachusetts) against the United States Company, which had bought Purity Distilling in 1917. In spite of the company's attempts to claim that the tank had been blown up by anarchists (because some of the alcohol produced was to be used in making munitions) it ultimately paid out $600,000 in out-of-court settlements (at least $6.6 million in 2005 dollars).

United States Industrial Alcohol did not rebuild the tank. The property became a yard for the Boston Elevated Railway (predecessor to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) and is currently the site of a city-owned baseball field.

The smell supposedly lingered for many years; indeed, according to local folklore, molasses left from this disaster can still be smelled on hot days. Given over 80 years of rainfall, natural fermentation, and extensive redevelopment of the area, it is reasonable to assume that any residue has long since dissipated.

[edit] Causes

New York Times article about the disaster

The cause of the accident is not known with certainty; though at the time authorities were quick to blame bomb throwing anti-war anarchists [1]. A more likely explanation is that the tank may have been shoddily constructed, insufficiently tested, and overfilled. Another is that it may have burst due to fermentation occurring within (the carbon dioxide this would have produced would have raised the pressure inside the tank); this would probably have been helped by the unusual increase in the local temperatures that occurred over the previous day: the air temperature rose from 2 °F to 41 °F (-17 °C to 4 °C) over that period. A third possibility is that the rising temperatures alone were enough to cause the collapse.

An inquiry after the disaster revealed that Arthur Jell, who oversaw the construction, neglected basic safety tests, such as filling the tank with water to check for leaks. When filled with molasses, the tank leaked so badly that it was painted brown to hide the leaks. Local residents collected leaked molasses for their homes.

Some accounts relate that given the timing of the accident, the tank may have been overfilled so that the owners could produce as much ethanol (for liquor) as possible before Prohibition came into effect. In fact, the 18th Amendment would not become law for another year, and the Volstead Act would not ban the operations of industrial alcohol producers.