Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Sticky Catastrophe: The Story of the Great Molasses Flood of 1919

Sticky Catastrophe: The Story of the Great Molasses Flood of 1919

Smith, James

Paperback

General Sociology

ISBN10: 1257296329
ISBN13: 9781257296323
Publisher: Lulu.com
Published: Oct 10 2025
Pages: 152
Weight: 0.35
Height: 0.33 Width: 5.00 Depth: 8.00
Language: English
On a cold January day in 1919, Boston's North End was torn apart by one of the strangest and most devastating disasters in American history. A massive storage tank holding over two million gallons of molasses burst without warning, sending a dark wave surging through crowded streets. In seconds, buildings splintered, horses drowned, and families were trapped in a suffocating flood that defied belief. What followed was more than a cleanup. It became a battle for justice that revealed corporate negligence, government failures, and the struggles of immigrant communities who had long been ignored. Engineers, survivors, and officials clashed in court as one of Massachusetts' largest lawsuits unfolded, exposing how carelessness and greed could bring about catastrophe. Out of tragedy came new laws, stricter building codes, and a reckoning with the responsibilities of industry. This book tells the full story of that day and its lasting impact-not only the horror of the flood itself, but the voices of those who lived through it, the long shadow it cast on Boston politics, and the way it became embedded in folklore. Both absurd and heartbreaking, the disaster endures because it reminds us how the most ordinary substances can conceal extraordinary danger-and how resilience, memory, and accountability shape the legacy of a city scarred by sweetness turned deadly.

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