The day the molasses tank exploded

Today is, of course, the anniversary of the Great Molasses Flood, when a poorly maintained tank of molasses on the North End waterfront exploded at 12:40 p.m. on an unseasonably warm January day, sending a viscous brown tsunami down Commercial Street, killing 21 people and several horses, destroying buildings and bending the elevated.

This photo, taken not long after the tank collapse, shows officials looking at the damage from what's left of the el.

The tank before it ruptured:

A Boston City Archives collection has numerous photos of the destruction caused by the more than 2 million gallons of molasses, a legacy of Boston's role in the triangular trade, which made Boston a leading rum producer, although on the day the tank exploded, the molasses was destined to become industrial alcohol. The 18th Amendment, which would prohibit the consumption of alcohol, was ratified the very next day.

The tank's owners initially tried to blame Italian anarchists for the tank rupture, although as Stephen Puleo explains in Dark Tide, the cause was actually shoddy maintenance - when the tank began leaking molasses before the rupture, the owners had the tank painted a rusty-red color to hide the evidence of leaks (note: the link goes to Amazon, if you buy the book, UHub gets a small payment).

In 2019, on the 100th anniversary of the disaster, people gathered around the tank's outline to remember the victims.