27 May 2026

On January 15, 1919, a storage tank holding 2.3 million gallons of molasses collapsed in Boston's North End. A wave up to 15 feet high swept through the streets at roughly 35 miles per hour, killing 21 people and injuring 150 others. Witnesses said they could hear the rivets popping from the tank like machine-gun fire seconds before the wall of molasses hit.