Pause to remember those who died in a tsunami of sticky goo

Destroyed El

On this day in 1919, 21 people died when a poorly maintained molasses tank off Commercial Street exploded, sending more than 2 million gallons of the syrup roaring down the street at 35 m.p.h. The above photo is from the Boston Public Library's collection of molasses images and shows what the stuff did to the elevated that ran down the street at the time.

• More from Wikipedia
• Dark Tide - The definitive book on the disaster.