When was the molasses flood in boston

In the immediate aftermath, news coverage included speculation about fermentation that produced too much pressure inside the tank. Some blamed anarchists for setting off a bomb.

The trial that ensued lasted for years and gathered input from thousands of expert witnesses, producing 20, pages of conflicting testimony. Ultimately, U. Industrial Alcohol, the company that owned the tank, was found liable, even as many questions remained about what had actually happened.

More recent investigations suggest several fundamental problems with the structure of the tank. Designed to hold 2. But its steel walls, which ranged from 0. Although molasses had been poured into the container 29 times, only four of those refills were to near-capacity. The fourth top-off happened two days before the disaster, when a ship arrived from Puerto Rico carrying 2.

At that point, the tank held enough molasses to fill 3. Both the inadequate thickness and rivet issues were signs of negligence, and structural engineers knew better at the time, says Rossow.

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All that remains of the Great Boston Molasses Disaster is a small plaque at the entrance to a waterfront park in the North End that reads: On January 15, , a molasses tank at Commercial Street exploded under pressure, killing 21 people. A total of 21 men, women, and children, 12 horses, and uncounted numbers of dogs and cats died in the Great Molasses Flood. The disaster injured at least another people.

Rescuers—police officers, firemen, Red Cross volunteers, good Samaritans—quickly became stuck in it and had to be pulled out themselves. The best way to see the site where the disaster began, marked by the plaque in in Puopolo Park, is to make a small detour while walking along the self-guided Freedom Trail tour in Boston's North End. When you're walking along the Freedom Trail in the North End and reach Commercial Street, instead of turning right onto Hull Street to go up to Copp's Hill, just continue east on Commercial Street for a few hundred yards.

You'll see the park on your left, near the water. The sign is next to the sidewalk, on a low wall - you'll have to kneel down if you want to photograph it straight-on. It's easy to miss - after all, this disaster is not exactly a source of civic pride.

The Great Molasses Flood. And then the flood of molasses began. More to see nearby: Walk up to Copp's Burying Ground on the Freedom Trail - the easiest way to get there is to go back up Commercial Street and then turn left onto Hull Street look for the Trail's red stripe.

It's about a 2-minute walk. Valentine's Day Celebrations.