by Matt Conti

January 15th is the anniversary of the Great Molasses Flood of 1919 in Boston's North End. The United States Industrial Alcohol Company constructed a faulty 50 foot high steel tank in 1918 on Commercial Street near where the bocce courts are located today at Langone Park. Twenty one people were killed and another 150 injured when the tank ruptured and exploded on January 15, 1919.

A 2016 research study on the Great Molasses Flood of 1919 in Boston's North End says that January's cold weather made the molasses extra deadly. The cooling increased the thickness of the sweet syrup, making it incredibly hard to escape. A huge wave of the syrupy brown liquid moved down Commercial Street at a speed of 35 mph over two blocks destroying all in its path. In today's dollars, the property damage is estimated at over $100 million. Purity Distilling Company built the tank, 50 feet high and 90 feet wide, in the densely populated neighborhood of mostly Italian immigrants at the time.

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Source: http://northendwaterfront.com/