In the early 20th century, molasses was one of America's main sweeteners. It was used to make many sweets and also rum. In the North End of Boston Massachusetts, the United States Alcohol Company owned a distillery and a large steel molasses storage tank. It was 52 feet in height and ninety feet in diameter. It was filled to capacity with 2.3 million gallons of molasses. At around noon on January 15th, 1919, the enormous tank burst open with a tremendous roar.

The Path of Destruction

When the tank exploded, chunks of metal were sent flying in all directions. One large piece smashed through a support for the elevated railroad and the driver stopped the train moments before it would have plunged off the broken tracks.

As the tank was ripped apart, a huge wall of molasses came pouring out. The wall was approximately 15 to 20 feet high and reached speeds of up to 35 miles per hour in the area around the tank. The larged mass of sticky goo was soon pouring into the streets of Boston destroying everything in its path. The wave knocked a firehouse off its foundation and destroyed another municipal building and at least a dozen city workers were trapped in it. Many people's cellars were filled up with molasses. Anybody who stood in its destructive path was sucked in. A horse-drawn wagon was picked up by the molasses and slammed into a fence. Both the horses and the people were stuck. Trolly cars were picked up and smashed. Some people were crushed by their houses and others got stuck in the molasses. Some tried to swim in the sticky goo but without success. Some of the stuff plunged into the Boston Harbor taking wreckage with it. By the end of the day, many buildings and roads were covered with molasses. Many people and animals were stuck.

Cleanup and Rescue

Rescue workers were already on the scene when the molasses finally came to a halt. Many people were involved in the rescue work including the police, men from the harbor patrol ship, military men from a nearby Army base, and ambulances full of Red Cross volunteers. They all plunged into the mess and within an hour they were all covered with the sticky goo. The rescue teams had a very difficult time walking through the mess and many of them had their boots sucked right off of their feet. Later in the day, when the temperature dropped and the molasses began to stiffen a little bit, it became harder for the rescue teams to pull the trapped people out. Many trapped people had to be cut out of their clothing in order to get free. Unfortunately, the trapped horses had to be shot by the police because the rescue workers were not able to free them.

The next day marked the beginning of the long and tedious cleanup process. Firemen tackled the sticky mess with hoses. The water from the fire hydrants was no use because the fresh water would just wash right off of the molasses. To make any progress, they had to use salt water from the harbor. When hit by salt water, the molasses frothed up all yellow and sudsy. It took months to pump the molasses out of cellars with hydraulic syphons. No matter how hard they tried, the cleanup crews could not get rid of all of the sticky goo.

Sadly, 21 people were killed and 150 others were injured. Some were suffocated by the molasses, some were crushed by falling objects, and others were swept by the wave into the harbor. Two of the victims were not found until four days later. By that time their bodies were so battered and glazed that they could not be identified at first.

The Aftermath

Even after the cleanup crews were finished, there was still much stickiness left for months. Wherever people walked their shoes would get stuck in the left over goo. The molasses was spread by work crews well beyond where the actual wave of molasses stopped and for months every doorknob, every telephone, every chair, and every table was sticky. The Boston Harbor was stained brown through the summer. The smell of molasses could be detected in the city for even longer.

When the disaster was over, the distillery was brought to court. There were 119 different lawsuits brought against them. The United States Alcohol Company spent over $50,000 on expert witness fees, claiming that the acident was not caused by a structural weakness but that bomb-throwing anarchists were responsible for the mess. Though there were some bomb-throwing anarchists around at the time, there was no proof that any of them had thrown a bomb at the molasses tank. Even without any proof of their claim, the distillery still thought that they would win the case because most of the 21 people killed and most of the people who were suing them were poor.

The hearings lasted for 300 days and more than 3000 witnesses were called to the stand to testify and 45,000 pages of testimony and arguments were recorded. In the end, the owners of the tank were forced to pay nearly $1 million in damages. One million dollars was worth a lot more in 1919 then it is today.

The Cause

It was concluded that poor construction and overfilling of the tank were to blame for this disaster. Investigators had gone to the city hall to look at the plans that were filed when the tank was built but they didn't find any. The building inspectors said that no building plans were required because the tank was not a building but an industrial device. The industrial department people said that it was not an industrial device but a structure. It became obvious that the tank was built with no plans approved and no government inspectors involved.

Another theory is that the molasses had suddenly expanded due to a sudden increase in temperature. The day before the incident it was only 2 degrees fahrenheit. On the day of the disaster the temperature rose to 40 degrees fahrenheit.