CalendarZ

  1. Home
  2. On This Day
  3. January
  4. 15
  5. Great Molasses Flood

Events on January 15 in history

Great Molasses Flood
1919Jan, 15

Great Molasses Flood: A wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 21 and injuring 150.

The Great Molasses Flood, also known as the Boston Molasses Disaster, was a disaster that occurred on January 15, 1919, in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.

A large storage tank filled with 2.3 million US gal (8,700 m3) of molasses, weighing approximately 13,000 short tons (12,000 t), burst, and the resultant wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 mph (56 km/h), killing 21 and injuring 150. The event entered local folklore and residents claimed for decades afterwards that the area still smelled of molasses on hot summer days.

References

Choose Another Date

Events on 1919

  • 23Mar

    Italian Fascism

    In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founds his Fascist political movement.
  • 4May

    Treaty of Versailles

    May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.
  • 19May

    Turkish War of Independence

    Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what is later termed the Turkish War of Independence.
  • 29May

    General relativity

    Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested (later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin.
  • 4Jun

    19th Amendment to the United States Constitution

    Women's rights: The U.S. Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees suffrage to women, and sends it to the U.S. states for ratification.