Posted by rose in scaesar.com
What became of the U. S. Industrial Alcohol Company(USIA)after the Molasses
spill in Boston in 1919?Hello mum3-ga,
I had no intention of spending several hours on a $2 question but the
story was so interesting that I felt compelled to play detective. I?d
never heard of the Boston Molasses Flood and I got caught up in the
abundance of resources available about the disaster. I thought it
would be easy to find information about the company but tracking them
down proved elusive. Despite the difficulties, I believe I?ve found
the successor company to US Industrial Alcohol Company. It is Equistar
Chemicals, LP.
Searching for the Great Molasses Flood gave me information about the
company that owned the tank that exploded. Purity Distilling was a
subsidiary of U.S. Industrial Alcohol Company. Additional searching
led to information that U.S. Industrial Alcohol (USIA) had another
subsidiary called U.S. Industrial Chemical Company (USI). Searching
for these companies led to a document from Equistar Chemicals, LP,
that tied together the connection from the founding of U.S. Industrial
Alcohol Company in 1906 to the current Equistar incarnation. Equistar
seems to have emerged from the mergers of several other chemical
companies. It is very difficult to see the exact steps in the
transactions but I think the information I?ve found is conclusive.
I?ve included the various nuggets of information that led me to this
conculusion.
Thank you for a very interesting search that brought out all my
compulsive tendencies. Enjoy!
~ czh ~
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TRACING U.S. INDUSTRIAL ALCOHOL TO EQUISTAR
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http://www.equistar.com/
http://www.equistarchem.com/TechLit/oxygenated/Ethanol/2460-V7-0204.pdf
Ethyl Alcohol Handbook ? Equistar
Equistar Chemicals LP 2003
Page 10
THE ROLE OF EQUISTAR CHEMICALS
The legacy of Equistar Chemicals, LP, a joint venture of Lyondell
Chemical Company, and its predecessor companies in industrial alcohol
stretches back to the beginning of the twentieth century via the U.S.
Industrial Chemical Company (USI).
When incorporated in 1906 as the U.S. Industrial Alcohol Company, USI
was the first company formed to manufacture industrial ethyl alcohol
after the passage of the Tax-free Alcohol Act.
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http://www.rotomolding.org/nr_equistar02.asp
In 1978 two companies, Chemplex and U.S. Industrial Chemical Company,
forerunners of Equistar, joined ARM. Other companies joining the
Equistar family along the way were Northern Petrochemicals, Norchem,
Enron, Quantum and Millennium.
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http://www.tappi.org/index.asp?pid=28850&bhcd2=1085869635
John V. Benham III
John V. Benham III retired as Manager of Operations, Equistar
Chemicals? Technology Center, in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2003, after 35
years with the company.
In 1982 Chemplex Company merged with Northern Petrochemical and became
known as Enron. Enron was purchased by USI Chemicals in 1987 and that
company became Quantum Chemicals before becoming Millennium
Petrochemicals. In 1998 Millennium formed a limited partnership with
Lyondell Chemical and Occidental Petroleum known as Equistar
Chemicals, L P.
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http://www.distill.com/usa.html
Links to distilleries and fuel-ethanol plants in the USA
SYNTHETIC ETHANOL PRODUCERS
Equistar Chemicals L.P. - (Formerly Millenium Petrochemicals Inc /
Quantum Chemical Corp. USI Division) Tuscola, Illinois
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http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2004/03/31/news/money/money00.txt
March 31, 2004
Parents of Tuscola's Equistar Chemicals will merge Operations to continue as usual
Equistar already was a joint venture of Millennium and Lyondell. That
partnership makes polymers and petrochemicals for plastics and other
applications.
The Tuscola facility is one of 13 Equistar plants in the United
States. That plant was formerly operated by USI Chemical Corp.
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http://www.business.com/directory/industrial_goods_and_services/materials/plastics/quantum_chemical_corporation/profile/
Quantum Chemical Corporation Profile
Quantum Chemical Corporation
99 Park Avenue
New York, NEW YORK 10016 +1 212 9495000
Quantum Chemical Corporation is primarily engaged in petrochemical
products mainly polyethylene, acetic acid, vinyl acetate, ethyl
alcohol resins etc, which are marketed through its USI division.
Propane is marketed through its suburban propane division. QFB
Partners, a 50% owned partnership also markets propane distribution &
sale to its relatedequipment & services. Foreign investments are
principally in Holland.
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http://www.powderbulk.com/ag_19921001.110226.htm
Quantum's USI Division, Morris, Ill., manufactures low-density
polyethylene (LDPE) and linear LDPE (LLDPE) resins. The company first
manufactures ethylene, then synthesizes the ethylene into plastic and
extrudes the plastic into 1/8-inch by 1/8-inch pellets.
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http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Park/3741/prominent_whitakers_in_history.htm
Milton Clarance Whitaker 1870-1963:
From 1903-1910 he was general superintendent in charge of production
(at Welsbach Co.), and during 1910-1916 he served as a consulting
chemical engineer. In the last named year he became vice-president of
the U.S. Industrial Alcohol Chemical Company, New York City, and two
years later he was named president of its subsidiary, the U.S.
Industrial Chemical Company, New York City.
-------------------------------------------------
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mohenry/obituary/c08obit.htm
COOKE, Pauline Ruth - 1921 - 1995
Daily Democrat, Clinton MO - Pauline Ruth Cooke, 73, died Wednesday,
March 15, 1995, at Golden Valley Hospital in Clinton. She was born
near Lincoln on October 22, 1921, the daughter of Alex and Ethyl
Jenkins Cooke. She grew up in Benton County and was employed as an
office manager for the US Industrial Chemical Company, later known as
Quantum Chemical Company, living in Louisville, Kentucky, and Kansas
City, retiring in the early 1980s after over 25 years of service.
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http://www.mde.state.md.us/assets/document/brownfields/fmc.pdf
FMC CORPORATION
Baltimore, Maryland
(MD-017/102)
Site History
From 1915 until 1954, the site property was owned and operated by the
United States Industrial Alcohol Company. Until 1930, the company
produced acetone and ethanol from the fermentation of molasses. The
molasses was stored in an unlined pond of an unknown size prior to
fermentation in fermentation buildings. From 1930-1940, the pond
remained unused and was allowed to dry up; however, in 1940,
Industrial Alcohol used the pond area to dispose of its production
wastes (of unknown content). FMC Corporation, the current owner,
purchased the property in 1954 and continued to use the unpermitted
disposal area to dispose of manufacturing and general wastes until
1975, when the area was closed by FMC because it was no longer needed.
==============================
THE GREAT BOSON MOLASSES FLOOD
==============================
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa123197.htm
Molasses Clocked at 35 mph ... in January!
Boston, 1919: 21 people were killed and 150 injured in one of the
most bizarre disasters in American history
More than a hundred plaintiffs lined up to seek damages from the
United States Industrial Alcohol Company. Hearings went on for six
years, during which 3,000 people testified, including several "expert
witnesses" for the defense who were well paid to argue that the
explosion had been the result of sabotage, not negligence on the part
of the company.
In the end, however, the court ruled for the plaintiffs, finding that
the tank had been overfilled and inadequately reinforced.
-------------------------------------------------
http://www.bookfinder.us/review0/0807050202.html
http://www.yalereviewofbooks.com/archive/spring04/review06.shtml.htm
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?isbn=0807050202&itm=2
Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919
Stephen Puleo
For the first time, the story of the molasses flood is told here in
its full historical context. Tracing the era from the tank's
construction in 1915 through the multiyear lawsuit that followed the
disaster, and drawing from long-lost court documents, fire department
records, and newspaper accounts, Stephen Puleo uses the drama of the
molasses flood to examine the sweeping changes brought about by World
War I, Prohibition, the anarchist movement, immigration, and the
expanding role of big business in society. It's also a chronicle of
the courage of ordinary people, from the firemen caught in an
unimaginable catastrophe to Judge Hugh Ogden, the soldier-lawyer who
presided over the lawsuit against USIA with heroic impartiality.
http://www.stephenpuleo.com/exerpt.htm
Author of Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919
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http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Northeast/01/23/molasses.flood.ap/
Great molasses flood remembered
Library exhibit chronicles 1919 disaster
January 23, 2004
In 1919 the war had just ended and Prohibition was looming. Purity
Distilling, wanting to make a last batch of alcohol before it was
banned, dumped a large shipment of molasses into the tank on January
14, filling it to near capacity.
In the lawsuit that followed -- a combination of 119 separate legal
claims -- Purity's parent company, United States Industrial Alcohol
Co., claimed Italian anarchists from the neighborhood had blown up the
tank with dynamite.
That tactic failed. USIA ended up paying almost $650,000 to settle the claims.
-------------------------------------------------
http://www.mapsovertime.com/northend9.htm
The Great Molasses Flood left the North End with ruined elevator trains,
lost lives, and an enormous sticky mess. Citizens were outraged and
demanded that the US Industrial Alcohol Company pay the city damages
for the disaster. Boston was once known as the distilling capital of the US,
and molasses were America's primary sweetener at the time. Many have
hypothesized that the flood was caused by the overloading of the molasses
storage tank due to the impending Prohibition. Eventually the US Industrial
Alcohol Campany did pay a million dollars in damages to the city of Boston.
-------------------------------------------------
http://tusquare.tulane.edu/history.shtml
History of Tulane University Square
For over 70 years, the U.S. Industrial Alcohol Company of Virginia
operated a molasses factory on the site of University Square. The
defunct distillery was razed in the early 70?s to make way for the
Uptown Square Shopping Center. The retail center was home to many
locally owned businesses. However, Uptown Square struggled financially
and many shops closed their doors. In 1997, Uptown Square was sold to
Episcopal Housing for Seniors, which constructed Lambeth House, a
high-rise retirement community on one-half of the site. In 2001,
Episcopal Housing Services sold the other half to Tulane University.
-------------------------------------------------
http://www.maximonline.com/grit/articles/article_5060.html
Wonders of the Modern World
U.S. INDUSTRIAL ALCOHOL COMPANY MOLASSES TANK
On January 15, 1919, a storage tank holding 2.5 million gallons of
molasses exploded, creating a 15-foot tidal wave of sweetness that
rushed at 35 mph through downtown Boston, leaving everything brown and
sticky like a Mexican restaurant men?s room. Apparently, the tank
wasn?t built to withstand fermentation, which had occurred as the
temperature rose 40 degrees in three days. The Great Molasses Flood
knocked down several buildings and an elevated train line and drowned
21 unfortunate (and evidently slow) people.
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