On this day in Boston history, a 58-foot-high, 90-foot-wide cast-iron tank holding 2.2 million gallons of molasses burst, sending a wave of the viscous hot liquid down Commercial Street at 35 m.p.h., destroying houses, commercial buildings and a part of the elevated tracks, pictured here.

Twenty two people perished, buildings were knocked from their foundations by the blast, or ruined by being flooded with molasses which then hardened solid.

Over 100 lawsuits were filed against the United States Industrial Alcohol Company, resulting in six years of testimony and a finding of negligence which closed the company.