On January 15, 1919, a reservoir of molasses ceded to Boston. The liquid, which is associated with a thick texture and cooking, spreads in the streets en masse. The accident killed twenty-one people and injured about one hundred and fifty.
The unusual character of the substance sometimes gives the event the appearance of a comic anecdote. It would be to forget the victims and the violence of a tank rupture. On such a scale, an ordinary product becomes a major danger.
The disaster is helping to change the requirements for large tanks. The surprise is not a rain of syrup out of a tale. It is the change of scale: what fits in a spoon can, accumulated in tons and released suddenly, upset a whole neighborhood.
What we know
The human toll is essential to the narrative; legends of a persistent smell are not presented as an established fact.
To go to the source
References consulted on September 20, 2026. Linked pages may be in another language.
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