On January 15, 2019, for the 100th anniversary of the event, a ceremony was held in remembrance. According to journalist Edwards Park, "The smell of molasses remained for decades a distinctive, unmistakable atmosphere of Boston."
The accident has since become a staple of local culture, not only for the damage the flood brought, but also for the sweet smell that filled the North End for decades after the disaster. Structural defects in the tank combined with unseasonably warm temperatures contributed to the disaster.
A 40-foot wave of molasses buckled the elevated railroad tracks, crushed buildings and inundated the neighborhood. On January 15, 1919, a molasses tank at 529 Commercial Street exploded under pressure, killing 21 people. The plaque, titled "Boston Molasses Flood", reads: Immediately to the east is the larger Puopolo Park, with additional recreational facilities.Ī small plaque at the entrance to Puopolo Park, placed by the Bostonian Society, commemorates the disaster. It is now the site of a city-owned recreational complex, officially named Langone Park, featuring a Little League Baseball field, a playground, and bocce courts. The property formerly occupied by the molasses tank and the North End Paving Company became a yard for the Boston Elevated Railway (predecessor to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority). United States Industrial Alcohol did not rebuild the tank.
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The Harvard study concluded that the molasses cooled and thickened quickly as it rushed through the streets, hampering efforts to free victims before they suffocated. When the tank collapsed, the fluid cooled quickly as it spread, until it reached Boston's winter evening temperatures and the viscosity increased dramatically. Two days before the disaster, warmer molasses had been added to the tank, reducing the viscosity of the fluid. The researchers concluded that the reports of the high speed of the flood were credible. The student researchers also studied the behavior of cold corn syrup flooding a scale model of the affected neighborhood. In 2016, a team of scientists and students at Harvard University conducted extensive studies of the disaster, gathering data from many sources, including 1919 newspaper articles, old maps, and weather reports. The tank's rivets were also apparently flawed, and cracks first formed at the rivet holes. Local residents collected leaked molasses for their homes.Ī 2014 investigation applied modern engineering analysis and found that the steel was half as thick as it should have been for a tank of its size, even with the lax standards of the day, and it also lacked manganese and was made more brittle as a result. When filled with molasses, the tank leaked so badly that it was painted brown to hide the leakage.
He had no architectural or engineering experience.
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The failure occurred from a manhole cover near the base of the tank, and a fatigue crack there possibly grew to the point of criticality.Īn inquiry after the disaster revealed that Arthur Jell, USIA's treasurer, neglected basic safety tests while overseeing construction of the tank, such as filling it with water insufficient to check for leaks, and ignored warning signs such as groaning noises each time the tank was filled. Warmer weather the previous day would have assisted in building this pressure, as the air temperature rose from 2 to 41 ☏ (−17 to 5.0 ☌) over that period. The tank was also constructed poorly and tested insufficiently, and carbon dioxide production might have raised the internal pressure due to fermentation in the tank. The first factor is the belief that the tank may have leaked from the very first day that it was filled in the year 1915. Several factors might have contributed to the disaster.
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