Today in History: January 15, ‘Great Molasses Flood’ kills 21
Today is Thursday, Jan. 15, the 15th day of 2026. There are 350 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Jan. 15, 1919, in Boston, a tank containing an estimated 2.3 million gallons (8.7 million liters) of molasses burst, flooding the city’s North End and killing 21 people in what was later dubbed the “Great Molasses Flood.”
Also on this date:
In 1559, Elizabeth I was crowned queen of England and Ireland in Westminster Abbey.
In 1929, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta.
In 1943, work was completed on the Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Department of War (now Defense).
In 1967, the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League defeated the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League 35-10 in the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, known retroactively as Super Bowl I.
In 1991, Sean Lennon’s remake of his father’s “Give Peace A Chance” was released to coincide with the United Nations’ midnight deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. The lyrics were updated to reflect concerns of the 1990s.
In 1992, more than two dozen European nations formally recognized Croatia and Slovenia as independent nations amid the breakup of Yugoslavia.
In 2001, Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia maintained by volunteer editors, made its debut.
In 2009, US Airways Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger landed an Airbus A320 safely in New York’s Hudson River after striking a flock of birds that disabled both engines shortly after takeoff; all 155 people aboard survived the emergency water landing, which became known as “The Miracle on the Hudson.”
In 2019, extremists stormed a luxury hotel in Kenya’s capital of Nairobi, setting off explosives and gunning down people at cafe tables in an attack claimed by Africa’s deadliest Islamic militant group, al-Shabab. At least 21 people were killed in the attack and 28 others wounded.
In 2022, an undersea volcano erupted in the Pacific island nation of Tonga, shooting millions of tons of water vapor high into the atmosphere. A handful of deaths were blamed on the eruption, and scientists studied the blast afterward seeking to determine whether the water vapor acted as a heat-trapping greenhouse gas.
Today’s birthdays:
- Actor Andrea Martin is 79.
- Football Hall of Famer Randy White is 73.
- Actor-director Mario Van Peebles is 69.
- Boxing Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins is 61.
- Actor-director Regina King is 55.
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is 49.
- Former NFL quarterback Drew Brees is 47.
- Rapper-reggaeton artist Pitbull is 45.
- Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro is 42.
- DJ-music producer Skrillex is 38.
- Actor-singer Dove Cameron is 30.
- Singer-songwriter Grace VanderWaal is 22.