The Great Molasses Flood

On Thursday, Nov. 14 at 1:30 p.m., come to the Council on Aging to hear Emmy Award-winning historian John Horrigan present a lecture on a famous story that lives on in New England folklore: “The Boston Molasses Flood.” On January 15th, 1919, as workers were beginning their lunch break, a large storage tank in Boston’s North End collapsed, sending a wave of over two million gallons of refined molasses cascading at 35 MPH down Commercial Street, killing 21 and injuring 150 people. It could have been prevented if the tank was properly constructed and inspected. After the disaster, countless law suits would be filed, but the owner of the tank managed to avoid prosecution. Come hear more about this uniquely local bit of history.

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