History fact #1
In 1915 the Purity Distilling Company built a steel tank about 50 feet tall on Commercial Street in Boston's North End. It held about 2.3 million gallons of molasses. Soon dark streaks of molasses were running down its sides, and neighborhood children scraped up the drips with sticks. The owners did not inspect the tank. They painted it brown to hide the leaks. On January 15, 1919, the tank gave way and sent a wave of molasses through the neighborhood. Today a small plaque at Commercial Street and Copp's Hill Terrace marks the spot. The paint changed how the problem looked but did nothing to fix it. Have you ever seen a warning sign that was easier to cover up than to deal with?
Sources:
How did this story make you feel?
😀
0
😍0
😢0
😡0
👍0
👎0
