Great Molasses Flood of 1919

On January 15, 1919, a large molasses storage tank at 529 Commercial Street ruptured, releasing a wave of molasses that killed 21 people and injured about 150 in Boston's North End. Contemporary accounts describe the molasses wave sweeping through streets, overturning buildings and taking weeks to clean; the tank had contained about 2.3 million gallons. Subsequent investigations found construction and inspection flaws, and the disaster remains a famously unusual industrial catastrophe in the city's history.