Found some more info: the original tank was cylinder-shaped, 50ft tall, 90ft in diameter, and contained 2.3M gallons of product. Some pics of what it looked like before the explosion...
this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2026
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Terribly missed opportunity to call it the Boston Molassacre, just sayin.
That one person in the bottom middle in all white made terrible wardrobe choices that day.
That was a sticky situation.
Picture ain't loading. Got any other link for it?
Did they change the way they store it now, since this happen?
Well, one of the causes of the flood was that, even by 1919 standards, the storage tank wasn't up to code, and the corporation involved deliberately ignored and hid signs of imminent failure.
1919 ,hum ,Where's black/ white picture
The photo was taken by a Boston Globe photographer on 15th January 1919 and has been archived by the Boston Public Library. The title of this post does mention it's been colorized.
That said, autochrome photographic equipment was commercially available from around 1907 -- though it was very expensive.