Boston was flooded with molasses the day before the US adopted Prohibition.

1919

The tank burst on 15 January 1919; the 18th Amendment was ratified on the 16th. The molasses was stored there to be distilled into alcohol.

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The event

• Great Molasses Flood1919 · Boston, USA. On 15 January 1919 a tank holding 8,700 cubic metres of molasses burst in Boston. A sticky wave swept through the North End at about 35 mph, killing 21 people. For decades afterwards residents insisted the neighbourhood still smelled of molasses on hot days.

20th century

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