The smaller scale seemed to only magnify the gravity of the flood.Īccording to Sharp, the molasses was about 1.5 times denser than water. And when she poured corn syrup over a scaled model of the Boston, MA, town, the results were horrifying. The liquid Sharp included in the study, however, had a similar consistency. In fact, aerospace engineer Nicole Sharp conducted a study dedicated to the moment. During the accident, 2.3 million gallons of syrup flooded the city. Many scientists tried to understand and recreate the events of that fateful day. People were not able to outrun the danger for long periods of time. Traveling at a speed of 35 miles an hour, the molasses flood moved as quickly as some vehicles. Over two million gallons of the thick liquid exploded into the streets in January of 1919. Understandably so.Īnd things move incredibly quickly. When the spill is of a greater magnitude, though, things get more than messy. But molasses syrup is sticky and annoying enough when it spills onto a table or countertop. Overall, the vessel was like a ticking time bomb. The molasses that was stored in the tank was used along with highly flammable substances like TNT and nitroglycerin throughout the war. The tank was highly explosive to begin with. In fact, their parent company, the USIA, made a huge profit during the war by using the molasses to process and distill alcohol. And their million-pound vessel was wholly responsible for the catastrophic event. Purity Distilling Company owned the molasses tank and built it in 1915. The owners of the molasses tank that caused the flood was a subsidiary of the United States Industrial Alcohol (USIA). Eventually, Prohibition was repealed.īut at the time of the flood, only one more state needed to ratify the 18th amendment and thereby make the sale and consumption of adult drinks illegal. And alcoholic beverages were frowned upon in many public spaces. It was a turbulent time for the government as well.Īlong with the conclusion of the war efforts, Prohibition was gaining momentum across the country. Consequently, many people were in the wrong place at the wrong time when the flood started. The transitional period affected everyone.Īccording to reports, the city was moving in an unnatural rhythm to begin with. And it was referred to as the “War to end all wars.” Many soldiers were making their way back to Boston and starting to transition back to normal life. Just two months before the accident took place, World War I ended. Boston, MA, Was In A Weird Transitional Period At The Time. Here’s everything that happened on the fateful day of the Great Molasses Flood. But Mark Rossow – a civil engineer who studied the accident – said, “First you kind of laugh at it, then you read about it.” That’s when the terror truly sinks in. Some might even mistakenly assume the situation is farcical. Over a century later, studies are still revealing new information about what caused the tragic events that took place on that cold winter day. But how did a disaster like this even occur? And the smell of molasses allegedly lingered in the Massachusetts streets for decades. Unfortunate residents of the Boston, MA, locale got trapped as did animals of all sizes. Lives were lost buildings were destroyed. The thick liquid completely flooded the town. But the accident that took place on January 15, 1919, was much more than a simple food spill. At its most dangerous, the syrup reached speeds of 35 miles per hour. The molasses spread quickly and viciously, like a tsunami wave. While it may seem like the syrup would move slowly and be easy to avoid, that was not the case. Over two million gallons of the sugary and thick liquid began to flood the streets. On a cold winter day in Boston, MA, just around lunchtime, a tank of molasses exploded in the city’s North End. Even though it happened over 100 years ago, the Great Molasses Flood made its mark as one of the most bizarre and tragic stories in food history.
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