Looking for "high molasses marks" in Boston basements

Octoroon

Octoroon

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I know, pretty off-off-topic. My apologies if this doesn't belong here at all.

My Dad is 91; last Sunday he was talking about seeing a high molasses mark from the flood of 1919 in a basement on Batterymarch street, and now I want to see them and photograph them (with proper permissions). Maybe put something together for the 100th anniversary in five years.

Does anyone know of any? Do you have access? Could you go look in your basement? I couldn't find where Dad was talking about, the company he was working for in the 40's skipped around and there wasn't a Batterymarch address listed anywhere. But there must still be some around ...
 
I would love to see lingering effects from the molasses flood.
 
Color me brown with skepticism. Not that there weren't marks but that they could be found on Batterymarch Street - I can't think the molasses would have streamed that far from its original location in the North End.

Sounds really neat!
 
Yeah, Batterymarch Street seems too far away to have been affected by the Molasses flood.

Boston_molasses_area_map.png

It seems like the circled area was the one most affected by the Molasses flood, so your best bets would probably be in that immediate vicinity.
 
I agree, it sounded too far away, Dad's memory may have been sketchy. But if anyone's in the circled area ... could you look in your basement?
 
Batterymarch St is way too far away.
My grandfather, who lived to be a 100, owned a barroom not too far away. He used to tell us that you could smell molasses for years afterwards on hot days. Imagination, maybe. I thought I could smell chocolate in Lower Mills years after Bakers closed.
 
Might not be imagination, my Dad remembers the smell, too, on hot days.
 
Forgot about this thread. Dad passed away last spring, but I'm still up for scouting out basements, if anyone has one in the molasses area.
 
Sorry about your dad. He must have had some great stories about old Boston. Any chance he meant Battery St. instead of Batterymarch? That's just outside the circle roughly between the Eliot School and Battery Wharf. Can't help with access, but that idea might be a little bit warmer.
 
Hmmm perhaps. He worked at Egyptian Chemical for a time. GREAT stories!!
 
My condolences, 8roon. Don't give up on these stories. They live on in you only if you let them.
 
Late to this, I know, but, we absolutely SHOULD expect a high-water mark in basements on Batterymarch.

A few websites say the flood crested at what is now Elephant & Castle, 161 Devonshire St. That's nearly a mile--1,400 or so yards--as the crow flies, and, what, maybe fifteen feet uphill from the where the tank was at sea-level?

In comparison, Batterymarch is only 1,100 or so yards, and several feet lower.

Some websites saying E&C/161 Devonshire St. was the high-water mark for flood:

http://www.touristsbook.com/boston/restaurants/elephant-castle/

https://www.paintnite.com/pages/venueevents/view/boston/132636
 
I'm skeptical, unless it was a 2.3 billion gallon tank that broke!

The Elephant and Castle claim is a phony tourist tale that got repeated for publicity, and is unreliable.

Here is a map of the flood area.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/24277285463389396/

Here is another:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood#/media/File:Boston_molasses_area_map.png

The 1/16/19 Boston Post lead story gives a contemporary description of the flood area that is consistent with the above two maps:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood#/media/File:Boston_post-January_16,_1919,.jpg
 
Interesting! Thanks DBM and tobyjug. Might be a tall tale on the part of the E&C, but even judging by the photos from the time the flood area seemed bigger than that little red circle. I can't seem to find the photo showing the elevated train tracks taken out over by North Station, but here's others.

https://www.google.com/search?q=flo..._AUoAg&biw=1280&bih=939#imgrc=Atw0LWiUHOhDjM:

Still a stretch to get to Batterymarch, never mind Devonshire.
 
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