Boston "Molassacre" (so-called by a Duck Tour guy I heard once)

[quislibet]

I overheard some people on the T saying they were going to a lecture on the Boston Molasses Flood, and expressing some ignorance over just what that was (so I suppose it was a good thing they were going to a lecture on it).

Today is the 85th anniversary of the great molasses disaster, when a large holding tank of molasses (for the rum trade; consider, if you will, the irony that this happened quite literally on the eve of Prohibition, which was ratified by the last state, Nebraska, the next day), in the vicinity of the present-day Aquarium, exploded (from unseasonable heat, perhaps; something else to think about longingly today, but the owners blamed Bolsheviks) and the resulting flood killed 21 people, snapped the supports of an elevated railway, and sunk a boat, and left Boston smelling like molasses for decades after.

Next time you hear the phrase "slow as molasses in January," inform the speaker that that speed can in fact be as much as 35 miles an hour.

Comments

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

(adding this here because I'm too lazy to go to the "editjournal" page)

... and the hell of it is that I wish I had remembered the significance of the date BEFORE J. made chocolate pudding for dessert. Or that we had waited for today for the baked beans we ate yesterday. What can we do to mark the day?

Maybe we'll put some molasses in a disposable container and microwave it until it explodes. And put some army guys next to it to be knocked over. Hmm.

[rojagato.livejournal.com]

Maybe we'll put some molasses in a disposable container and microwave it until it explodes. And put some army guys next to it to be knocked over

The only way this could be better is with the addition of Peeps.

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

That's what J. said!

As it turned out we just made hermits, pudding or no pudding.

[canonfire.livejournal.com]

I keep saying that 1919 was the most important year of the Twentieth Century, but no one listens to me! This PROVES it!

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

Certainly a grim year! The war was over, but molasses floods and influenza were getting people down, and you couldn't even get drunk about it. But, on the plus side, the introduction of refrigerators and Crisco.

J. worked for a while in a historic house here in town, and that was the year that guided their interpretation, so she has some (fading) command over much 1919 trivia.

[stagemanager.livejournal.com]

and left Boston smelling like molasses for decades after.

Literally, decades? Oh, my.

Cite? (for the smelling, not the explosion...)

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

One of the two articles (the Smithsonian or Yankee, can't remember which) on the page I linked to above.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

What a marvelous story. See, if they put more things like that in the history books, more people would be reading history. I think I'll go hunt out my last jar of Grandma's Dark Molasses and make some rye bread in commemoration. It's the least I can do.

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

We made some hermits (from the King Arthur Flour cookbook; if one searches "King Arthur Hermit Recipe" on google it's the first link, but the iVillage website that ripped off the recipe has some tedious advertising stuff going on, so I can't bring myself to link to it directly).

[jasonlizard.livejournal.com]

this made me miss walking past the old Necco factory and smelling the sugar in the air.

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

... with the knowledge that at any moment you could be carried away in a tide of Necco Wafers!

[basha.livejournal.com]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0807050202/qid=1074264363//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i0_xgl14/103-4465729-8038256?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Is the really long amazon link to the book The Dark Tide, which is about the molasses flood.

I got it for my sister for her birthday, and skimmed the first few pages and ended up getting a copy for myself

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

That looks cool! I'll have to get it.

[julishka.livejournal.com]

the book release was the reason for the lecture. if you search boston.com, no wait, yesterday's phoenix (thephoenix.com) you'll find an article on the author and book (http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/this_just_in/documents/03521177.asp). i'm bummed that yesterday i thought it was friday & that i missed the lecture. of course as i walked past the old south meeting house, i realised that it was in fact thursday & the lecture was just letting out. :(

the article did mention that the smell of molasses factoid is probably no longer valid, however he suggests that some of the adjacent north end basements which filled completely w/the stuff may still smell of it.

[kiad.livejournal.com]

I am glad to find out that I've actually been telling the correct story all these years, although, I think I've been imagining that I've smelled the molasses.. Do you think it is possible that I really have smelled it?

I remember sitting on the balcony of the Marriott next to the Aquarium, and imagining a huge flood of molasses obliterating the crowd... The vat must have been hugely massive.

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

The capacity of the tank (it says in the Smithsonian article) was about two and a half million gallons!

[tygher.livejournal.com]

Curious. I've recently added you, by the way.

I grew up in New England, spent much time in Boston .. but had never heard of this.

[quislibet.livejournal.com]

I worry it might have been a role-playing game where I first heard of this.