At 12:30 in the… Boston molasses detail map.png 874 × 742; 176 KB Boston post-January 16, 1919,.jpg 1,127 × 1,435; 730 KB Boston-molasses-disaster-nyt-article.jpg 295 × 930; 93 KB On Jan. 15, 1919, an enormous molasses storage tank burst in Boston’s North End, and a 25-foot-high molasses flood surged through the streets at 35 miles per hour. Almost a hundred years ago, Civil Engineering Department head Charles Spofford investigated and identified the cause of one of Boston’s most sensational disasters, the Great Molasses Flood. The whole city smelled of molasses. On January 15, 1919, the city of Boston suffered a tragedy when a large tank of molasses burst, triggering a major flood of syrup through the city streets. The incident is commonly referred to as the Great Molasses Flood. In February, a month after the disaster, the Chief Judge of Boston Municipal Court, Wilfred Bolster, made public the results of his investigation into the tragedy and blamed the tank itself, saying evidence indicated it was ‘wholly insufficient in point of structural strength to handle its load’. On January 15, 1919, a 50-foot-high steel tank holding 2.3 million gallons of molasses suddenly ruptured in Boston’s North End. On January 15, 1919, Boston suffered one of history’s strangest disasters when the “Great Molasses Flood” tore through the city's North End and deposited so … The molasses flood covered one of the densest commercial sections of Boston, with a busy port and a railway terminal. Episode 2: The Great Boston Molasses Flood. Almost a century ago, a giant tank in Boston’s North End ruptured, releasing a massive wave of molasses that killed 21 people, crushed buildings, and tore a firehouse from its foundation. The Boston Post reported the day after the disaster that many of its victims suffocated, were smothered in the molasses that enveloped the area, or were crushed by the wreckage it … A molasses tank collapsed and caused widespread damage in Boston's North End in January 1919. The Great Boston Molasses Flood: why the strange disaster matters today. The incident, known as the Boston Molasses Disaster, the Great Molasses Flood, and the Great Boston Molasses Tragedy, killed 21 people and injured over 150 others. BOSTON (CBS/AP) — A small plaque at the entrance to the Harborwalk now marks the site of Boston’s most peculiar disaster – The Great Molasses Flood. … On a brisk winter day, Stephen Puleo, author of "Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919," gestured toward the spot where a tank in Boston… The only sign that the disaster ever took place is a commemorative plaque at the park entrance. An obscure accident led to the first class action lawsuit against a major company, paving the way for … The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 in Boston resulted in a lawsuit that used expert witnesses for the first time and was the catalyst for new regulations governing architects and engineers. The 100th anniversary of the Great Boston Molasses Flood is this week. In the end, the sugary tsunami killed 21 […] On Jan. 15, 1919, a 2-million-gallon tank of molasses ruptured in Boston, killing 21 people. After this look at the Great Molasses Flood, read up on the London beer flood of 1814 . One hundred years later, analyses have pinpointed a handful of factors that combined to make the disaster so … Now, much of the site of the Boston molasses disaster now rests within Langone Park. The source of what became known as the “Great Molasses Flood” was a 50-foot-tall steel holding tank located on Commercial Street in Boston’s North End. On January 15th, 1919, in what was probably the most bizarre disaster in United States' history, a storage tank burst on Boston's waterfront releasing two million gallons of molasses in a 15 ft-high, 160 ft-wide wave that raced through the city's north end at 35mph destroying everything it touched.