The Great Molasses Flood of 1919

In this episode, we explore the Great Molasses Flood of 1919, one of the strangest and most tragic disasters in U.S. history. On a cold January afternoon in Boston’s North End, a massive steel tank holding 2.3 million gallons of molasses burst, sending a deadly wave of syrup through the streets. You’ll learn what molasses was being used for, why shipments kept arriving after World War I, and how Prohibition played a surprising role in the story. We’ll walk step by step through what caused the tank to fail, and how this disaster helped shape modern...