What caused the great Boston Molasses Flood?
In 1919, a 50-foot-high steel tank loomed over Boston’s North End. Built by the Purity Distilling Company four years earlier, the tank could hold up to 2.5 million gallons of molasses to be used in the production of rum and industrial alcohol. At 12:40 pm on Wednesday, January 19, 1919, the tank burst, sending a gigantic wave of molasses rushing down Commercial Street through the North End, eventually covering two city blocks. Twenty-one people died in the disaster and 150 were injured. The official investigation of the incident never conclusively determined what caused the tank to collapse. The owners contended that it was an external explosion, possibly anarchist sabotage (the alcohol distilled from the molasses was destined for use in government munitions), but few people accepted this explanation. Other theories ascribed the explosion to fermenting molasses, overfilling of the tank, or a structural defect in the tank. After much legal wrangling, the Purity Distilling Company was he
