United States Industrial Alcohol was the largest class action suit to date in Massachusetts and one of the largest in the United States. In response, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled to consolidate the 119 separate claims against USIA into one and appoint an auditor to issue a report on the findings. On January 15, 1919, just days after a large shipment of molasses brought the tank to a capacity of 2.3 million tons of molasses a tsunami of the sugary substance engulfed the North End, leaving death and destruction in its wake.įollowing the tragedy, the District Attorney stated, “the evidence tends to show that the huge tank collapsed by reason of faulty construction and not because of an explosion,” contradicting claims by USIA that Italian anarchists blew up the tank as a way of protesting Big Business and American involvement in World War I. Later, Jell once again increased police presence at the tank after a bomb exploded at the North End Salutation Street police station following a riot by the International Workers of the World in North Square in early December 1918. Shipments of molasses increased with Woodrow Wilson’s declaration of war on April 6, 1917. USIA treasurer Arthur Jell erected a fence surrounding the Commercial Street tank in response. Tensions rose on Jwhen police discovered a bomb at the USIA facility in Brooklyn. Almost immediately, neighbors and workers reported seeing the tank leaking molasses onto the street. By 1916, with the United States still delaying their formal entry into World War I, the tank filled twice to almost two million gallons of molasses. This is the context in which the molasses tank on Commercial Street received its first delivery on December 31, 1915. Many of those in the neighborhood were not citizens, and, therefore, could not speak up against the building of a massive steel tank. The North End, with its high percentage of Italian immigrants, had significantly low percentages of political participation. Molasses could easily be loaded onto railcars and transported to the Cambridge distillery.
The location of the tank was also below the North End elevated railway. USIA was importing molasses for its use in munitions and less for its more popular use in the production of rum. Ships bringing molasses to New England from the Caribbean followed the same shipping routes for over 300 years.
In late 1915, this neighborhood became the home of United States Industrial Alcohol’s (USIA) newest molasses storage tank. According to Boston police, it was increasingly the headquarters for the leading Italian anarchists in America, preaching the violent overthrow of capitalism and government.
In 1902, future President Woodrow Wilson wrote, “but now there came multitudes of men of the lowest class from the south of Italy … having neither skill nor energy nor any initiative of quick intelligence.” Boston’s North End neighborhood was an ethnic Italian enclave. In 18, the Federal government enacted its first laws to combat immigration to America. At home, isolationism continued with an uptick in xenophobic and racist sentiments. The Great War was underway in Europe, with the United States desperate to remain on the outside of the armed conflict but still supply vital munitions and aid to its allies abroad. In 1915, the United States was a country on the brink. Through the lens of the Molasses Flood, one can dive deeper into the tumultuous early decades of the twentieth century to understand its lasting impact on our nation. Anarchists were threatening the core of American ideals, and Big Business was running unchecked throughout the country. Rampant xenophobia and racism, especially against Italians, was at a high.
#Boston molasses flood civil suit trial#
The events of the Molasses Flood and subsequent trial illuminated and exasperated current tensions affecting America at large. “This was one of the worst catastrophes which has visited the City of Boston in my remembrance … Cold molasses has death-dealing and destructive powers equal to the tornado or the cyclone when it is suddenly unloosed,” said Damon Hall in August 1920. This giant wave of molasses took the lives of 21 individuals while injuring 150 others. Baptisms, Weddings, & Burials show submenuĪt 12:45 pm, on January 15, 1919, a tsunami-like wave swept down Commercial Street in Boston’s North End neighborhood.Illuminating Black & Indigenous History.Sounds of Old North: Classroom Resources.
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