New London School explosion
Encyclopedia
The New London School explosion occurred on March 18, 1937, when a natural gas leak
caused an explosion
, destroying the London School of New London, Texas
, a community in Rusk County previously known as "London". The disaster killed more than 295 students and teachers, making it the worst catastrophe to take place in a U.S. school building.
was in full swing, but the London school district was one of the richest in America. A 1930 oil
find in Rusk County
had boosted the local economy, and educational spending grew with it. The London School, a large structure of steel and concrete, was constructed in 1932 at a cost of $1 million (approx $15.75 million in 2009 dollars). The London Wildcats (a play on the term "wildcatter
", for an oil prospector) played football
in the first stadium in the state to have electric lights.
The school was built on sloping ground, and a large dead-air space was contained beneath the structure. The school board had overridden the original architect's plans for a boiler and steam distribution system, instead opting to install 72 gas heaters throughout the building.
Early in 1937, the school board canceled their natural gas contract and had plumbers install a tap into Parade Gasoline Company's residue gas line in order to save money. This practice, while not explicitly authorized by local oil companies, was widespread in the area. The natural gas extracted with the oil was seen as a waste product and was flared off. As there was no value to the natural gas, the oil companies turned a blind eye. This "raw" or "wet" gas varied in quality from day to day, even from hour to hour.
Untreated natural gas is both odorless and colorless, so leaks are undetectable. Gas had been leaking from the residue line tap, and built up inside an enclosed crawlspace that ran the entire 253 feet (77.1 m) length of the building's facade. Students had been complaining of headaches for some time, but little attention had been paid to it.
Friday's classes had been canceled to allow for students to participate in the neighboring city of Henderson
's Interscholastic Meet, a scholastic and athletic competition. Following the school's normal schedule, first through fourth grade students had been let out early. A PTA
meeting was being held in the gymnasium, a separate structure roughly 100 feet (30.5 m) from the main building.
. It is believed that the sander's switch caused a spark that ignited the gas-air mixture.
Reports from witnesses state that the walls of the school bulged, the roof lifted from the building, and then crashed back down and the main wing of the structure collapsed. The force of the explosion was so great that a two-ton concrete block was thrown clear of the building and crushed a 1936 Chevrolet parked nearby.
Estimates of the number dead vary from 296 to 319, but that number could be much higher, as many of the residents of New London at the time were transient oilfield workers, and there is no way to determine for certain how many of these roughneck
s collected the bodies of their children in the days following the disaster, and returned them to their respective homes for burial. Approximately 600 students and 40 teachers were in the building at the time; only about 130 escaped without serious injury.
London School bus driver Lonnie Barber was transporting elementary students to their homes, and was in sight of the school as it exploded. Barber continued his two hour route, returning children to their parents before rushing back to the school to look for his four children. His son Arden died, but the others were not seriously injured. Barber retired the next year.
Aid poured in from outside the area. Governor James Allred dispatched Texas Rangers
, highway patrol, and the Texas National Guard
. Thirty doctors, 100 nurses, and 25 embalmers arrived from Dallas
. Airmen from Barksdale Field
, deputy sheriffs, and even Boy Scouts
took part in the rescue and recovery.
Most of the bodies were either burned beyond recognition, or blown to pieces. One mother had a heart attack and died when she found out that her daughter died, with only part of her face, her chin and a couple of bones recovered. Another boy was identified by the presence of the pull string from his favorite top in his jeans pocket.
Rescuers worked through night and rain, and 17 hours later, the entire site had been cleared. Buildings in the neighboring communities of Henderson
, Overton
, Kilgore
and as far away as Tyler
and Longview
were converted into makeshift morgues to house the enormous number of bodies, and everything from family cars to delivery trucks served as hearses and ambulances.
Mother Frances Hospital in nearby Tyler
was scheduled to open the next day, but the dedication was canceled and the hospital opened immediately.
Reporters arrived in the city, but found themselves swept up in the rescue effort. Former Dallas Times Herald
executive editor Felix McKnight, then a young AP
reporter, recalled, "We identified ourselves and were immediately told that helpers were needed far more than reporters." Walter Cronkite
also found himself in New London, on one of his first assignments for United Press. Although Cronkite went on to cover World War II
and the Nuremberg trials
, he was quoted as saying decades later, "I did nothing in my studies nor in my life to prepare me for a story of the magnitude of that New London tragedy
, nor has any story since that awful day equaled it."
Not all of the buildings on the 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) campus were destroyed. One of the surviving buildings, the gymnasium, was quickly converted into multiple classrooms. Inside new tents and the modified buildings, classes resumed 10 days later.
According to the History Channel's Modern Marvels
series, Adolf Hitler
, who was at the time the German
Chancellor
, paid his respects in the form of a telegram (a copy of which is on display at the London Museum).
cenotaph
on the median of Texas State Highway 42 across from the new school commemorates the 1937 disaster. The London Museum and Tea House is across the highway, and its curator Mollie Ward is an explosion survivor.
The majority of the victims of the explosion are buried at Pleasant Hill Cemetery, near New London.
Experts from the United States Bureau of Mines
concluded that the connection to the residue gas line was faulty. The connection had allowed gas to leak into the school, and since natural gas is invisible and is odorless, the leak was unnoticed.
To reduce the damage of future leaks, the Texas Legislature
began mandating within weeks of the explosion that thiol
s (mercaptans) be added to natural gas. The strong odor of many thiols makes leaks quickly detectable. The practice quickly spread worldwide.
Shortly after the disaster, the Texas Legislature met in emergency session and enacted the Engineering Registration Act (now rewritten as the Texas Engineering Practice Act). Public pressure was on the government to regulate the practice of engineering due to the faulty installation of the natural gas connection; Carolyn Jones, a nine year old survivor, spoke to the Texas Legislature about the importance of safety in schools. The use of the title "engineer" in Texas remains legally restricted to those who have been professionally certified by the state to practice engineering.
A lawsuit was brought against the school district and the Parade Gasoline Company, but the court ruled that neither could be held responsible. Superintendent W.C. Shaw was forced to resign amid talk of a lynching
. Shaw lost a son in the explosion.
Over the years, the New London School explosion received relatively little attention given the magnitude of the event. Explanations for this are speculative, but most center around residents' unwillingness to discuss the tragedy. L.V. Barber said of his father Lonnie, "I can remember newspaper people coming around every now and then, asking him questions about that day, but he never had much to say." The tragic events have been recalled through a play written by Dr. Bobby Johnson, called A Texas Tragedy; performed as a one act play
by the students at Huntington High School in Huntington, Texas
. The 50-year anniversary of the event was commemorated in part by the release of a documentary, "The Day A Generation Died," written, produced, and directed by Jerry Gumbert.
In 2000, the New York publishing house Alfred A. Knopf
signed the journalist Sara Mosle to write the definitive, non-fiction, historical account of the tragedy. Sara Mosle, a native of Texas and previously an editor and writer at The New York Times Book Review
, a staff writer at The New Yorker
and a frequent contributor to Slate.com, has often written about Texas subjects, public schools and education, and the inner lives of children. The book, which is based on more than 100 interviews with people directly connected to the explosion and extensive archival research, is forthcoming from Knopf. It describes the years leading up to the tragedy, including the discovery of the East Texas oil field (where Sara Mosle's grandfather worked on the rigs and her mother grew up), reporters such as Walter Cronkite and the Dallas journalist and editor Felix McKnight (whom Sara Mosle interviewed before both men died), and the years after the explosion, when survivors slowly came to terms with the tragedy.
In 2008, some of the last living survivors of the explosion shared their personal stories of their experience with documentary filmmaker and East Texas native, Kristin Beauchamp. The feature length documentary, titled "When Even Angels Wept," was released in 2009 and was a first-hand account of the disaster. It is told almost exclusively by survivors and eye witnesses. They share what they experienced on the afternoon leading up to the blast to what it was like to spend days searching East Texas towns, hospitals and morgues for missing loved ones.
, the New London School Explosion stands as the deadliest school disaster in American history and the third deadliest disaster in the history of Texas, after the Galveston Hurricane of 1900
, and the 1947 Texas City Disaster
.
Gas leak
In common usage, a gas leak refers to a leak of natural gas, from a pipe or other containment, into a living area or any other area where the gas should not be...
caused an explosion
Explosion
An explosion is a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases. An explosion creates a shock wave. If the shock wave is a supersonic detonation, then the source of the blast is called a "high explosive"...
, destroying the London School of New London, Texas
New London, Texas
New London is a city in Rusk County, Texas, United States. The population was 987 at the 2000 census.On March 18, 1937, the London School Explosion killed in excess of three hundred people...
, a community in Rusk County previously known as "London". The disaster killed more than 295 students and teachers, making it the worst catastrophe to take place in a U.S. school building.
Background
In the mid-1930s, the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
was in full swing, but the London school district was one of the richest in America. A 1930 oil
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
find in Rusk County
Rusk County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 47,372 people, 17,364 households, and 12,727 families residing in the county. The population density was 51 people per square mile . There were 19,867 housing units at an average density of 22 per square mile...
had boosted the local economy, and educational spending grew with it. The London School, a large structure of steel and concrete, was constructed in 1932 at a cost of $1 million (approx $15.75 million in 2009 dollars). The London Wildcats (a play on the term "wildcatter
Wildcatter
A wildcatter is an American term for a person who drills wildcat wells, which are oil wells drilled in areas not known to be oil fields. A wildcatter notable for his success was Texan oil tycoon Glenn McCarthy....
", for an oil prospector) played football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
in the first stadium in the state to have electric lights.
Early in 1937, the school board canceled their natural gas contract and had plumbers install a tap into Parade Gasoline Company's residue gas line in order to save money. This practice, while not explicitly authorized by local oil companies, was widespread in the area. The natural gas extracted with the oil was seen as a waste product and was flared off. As there was no value to the natural gas, the oil companies turned a blind eye. This "raw" or "wet" gas varied in quality from day to day, even from hour to hour.
Untreated natural gas is both odorless and colorless, so leaks are undetectable. Gas had been leaking from the residue line tap, and built up inside an enclosed crawlspace that ran the entire 253 feet (77.1 m) length of the building's facade. Students had been complaining of headaches for some time, but little attention had been paid to it.
Friday's classes had been canceled to allow for students to participate in the neighboring city of Henderson
Henderson, Texas
Henderson is a city in Rusk County, Texas, United States. The population was 11,273 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Rusk County...
's Interscholastic Meet, a scholastic and athletic competition. Following the school's normal schedule, first through fourth grade students had been let out early. A PTA
Parent-Teacher Association
In the U.S. a parent-teacher association or Parent-Teacher-Student Association is a formal organization composed of parents, teachers and staff that is intended to facilitate parental participation in a public or private school. Most public and private K-8 schools in the U.S. have a PTA, a...
meeting was being held in the gymnasium, a separate structure roughly 100 feet (30.5 m) from the main building.
Explosion
At some time between 3:05 and 3:20PM Central (local) time, Lemmie R. Butler (an "instructor of manual training") turned on an electric sanderSander
A sander is a power tool used to smooth wood and automotive or wood finishes by abrasion with sandpaper. Sanders have a means to attach the sandpaper and a mechanism to move it rapidly contained within a housing with means to hand-hold it or fix it to a workbench. Woodworking sanders are usually...
. It is believed that the sander's switch caused a spark that ignited the gas-air mixture.
Estimates of the number dead vary from 296 to 319, but that number could be much higher, as many of the residents of New London at the time were transient oilfield workers, and there is no way to determine for certain how many of these roughneck
Roughneck
Roughneck is a slang term for a person whose occupation is hard-manual labour, typically in a dangerous working environment. The term applies across a number of industries, but is most commonly associated with oil rigs...
s collected the bodies of their children in the days following the disaster, and returned them to their respective homes for burial. Approximately 600 students and 40 teachers were in the building at the time; only about 130 escaped without serious injury.
Reaction
The explosion was its own alarm, heard for miles. The most immediate response was from parents at the PTA meeting. Within minutes, area residents started to arrive and began digging through the rubble, many with their bare hands. Roughnecks from the oil fields were released from their jobs, and brought with them cutting torches and heavy equipment needed to clear the concrete and steel.London School bus driver Lonnie Barber was transporting elementary students to their homes, and was in sight of the school as it exploded. Barber continued his two hour route, returning children to their parents before rushing back to the school to look for his four children. His son Arden died, but the others were not seriously injured. Barber retired the next year.
Aid poured in from outside the area. Governor James Allred dispatched Texas Rangers
Texas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
, highway patrol, and the Texas National Guard
Texas National Guard
The Texas National Guard consists of the Texas Army National Guard and the Texas Air National Guard. The Guard is administered by the adjutant general, an appointee of the governor of Texas. The Constitution of the United States specifically charges the National Guard with dual federal and state...
. Thirty doctors, 100 nurses, and 25 embalmers arrived from Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. Airmen from Barksdale Field
Barksdale Air Force Base
Barksdale Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately east-southeast of Bossier City, Louisiana.The host unit at Barksdale is the 2d Bomb Wing , the oldest Bomb Wing in the Air Force. It is assigned to the Air Force Global Strike Command's Eighth Air Force...
, deputy sheriffs, and even Boy Scouts
Scouting in Texas
Scouting in Texas has a long history, from the 1910s to the present day, serving thousands of youth in programs that suit the environment in which they live...
took part in the rescue and recovery.
Most of the bodies were either burned beyond recognition, or blown to pieces. One mother had a heart attack and died when she found out that her daughter died, with only part of her face, her chin and a couple of bones recovered. Another boy was identified by the presence of the pull string from his favorite top in his jeans pocket.
Rescuers worked through night and rain, and 17 hours later, the entire site had been cleared. Buildings in the neighboring communities of Henderson
Henderson, Texas
Henderson is a city in Rusk County, Texas, United States. The population was 11,273 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Rusk County...
, Overton
Overton, Texas
Overton is a city in Rusk and Smith Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 2,350 at the 2000 census.Overton lies in two counties as well as two metropolitan areas...
, Kilgore
Kilgore, Texas
Kilgore is a city in Gregg and Rusk Counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the home of Kilgore College, and was also the childhood home of famous classical pianist Van Cliburn...
and as far away as Tyler
Tyler, Texas
Tyler is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, in the United States. It takes its name from President John Tyler . The city had a population of 109,000 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau...
and Longview
Longview, Texas
Longview is a city in Gregg and Harrison Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 80,455. Most of the city is located in Gregg County, of which it is the county seat; only a small part extends into the western part of neighboring Harrison County. It is...
were converted into makeshift morgues to house the enormous number of bodies, and everything from family cars to delivery trucks served as hearses and ambulances.
Mother Frances Hospital in nearby Tyler
Tyler, Texas
Tyler is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, in the United States. It takes its name from President John Tyler . The city had a population of 109,000 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau...
was scheduled to open the next day, but the dedication was canceled and the hospital opened immediately.
Reporters arrived in the city, but found themselves swept up in the rescue effort. Former Dallas Times Herald
Dallas Times Herald
The Dallas Times Herald, founded in 1888 by a merger of the Dallas Times and the Dallas Herald, was once one of two major daily newspapers serving the Dallas, Texas area. It won three Pulitzer Prizes, all for photography, and two George Polk Awards, for local and regional reporting...
executive editor Felix McKnight, then a young AP
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
reporter, recalled, "We identified ourselves and were immediately told that helpers were needed far more than reporters." Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
also found himself in New London, on one of his first assignments for United Press. Although Cronkite went on to cover World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the Nuremberg trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
, he was quoted as saying decades later, "I did nothing in my studies nor in my life to prepare me for a story of the magnitude of that New London tragedy
Tragedy (event)
A tragedy is an event in which one or more losses, usually of human life, occurs that is viewed as mournful. Such an event is said to be tragic....
, nor has any story since that awful day equaled it."
Not all of the buildings on the 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) campus were destroyed. One of the surviving buildings, the gymnasium, was quickly converted into multiple classrooms. Inside new tents and the modified buildings, classes resumed 10 days later.
According to the History Channel's Modern Marvels
Modern Marvels
Modern Marvels is a documentary television series that premiered on January 1, 1995 on History. The program focuses on how technologies affect and are used in today's society....
series, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, who was at the time the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Chancellor
Chancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
, paid his respects in the form of a telegram (a copy of which is on display at the London Museum).
Aftermath
A new school was completed in 1939 on the property, directly behind the location of the destroyed building. The school remained known as the London School until 1965 when London ISD consolidated with Gaston ISD, the name was changed to West Rusk High School, and the mascot was changed to the Raiders. A large graniteGranite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
cenotaph
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
on the median of Texas State Highway 42 across from the new school commemorates the 1937 disaster. The London Museum and Tea House is across the highway, and its curator Mollie Ward is an explosion survivor.
The majority of the victims of the explosion are buried at Pleasant Hill Cemetery, near New London.
United States Bureau of Mines
For most of the 20th century, the U.S. Bureau of Mines was the primary United States Government agency conducting scientific research and disseminating information on the extraction, processing, use, and conservation of mineral resources.- Summary :...
concluded that the connection to the residue gas line was faulty. The connection had allowed gas to leak into the school, and since natural gas is invisible and is odorless, the leak was unnoticed.
To reduce the damage of future leaks, the Texas Legislature
Texas Legislature
The Legislature of the state of Texas is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The Legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin...
began mandating within weeks of the explosion that thiol
Thiol
In organic chemistry, a thiol is an organosulfur compound that contains a carbon-bonded sulfhydryl group...
s (mercaptans) be added to natural gas. The strong odor of many thiols makes leaks quickly detectable. The practice quickly spread worldwide.
Shortly after the disaster, the Texas Legislature met in emergency session and enacted the Engineering Registration Act (now rewritten as the Texas Engineering Practice Act). Public pressure was on the government to regulate the practice of engineering due to the faulty installation of the natural gas connection; Carolyn Jones, a nine year old survivor, spoke to the Texas Legislature about the importance of safety in schools. The use of the title "engineer" in Texas remains legally restricted to those who have been professionally certified by the state to practice engineering.
A lawsuit was brought against the school district and the Parade Gasoline Company, but the court ruled that neither could be held responsible. Superintendent W.C. Shaw was forced to resign amid talk of a lynching
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
. Shaw lost a son in the explosion.
Over the years, the New London School explosion received relatively little attention given the magnitude of the event. Explanations for this are speculative, but most center around residents' unwillingness to discuss the tragedy. L.V. Barber said of his father Lonnie, "I can remember newspaper people coming around every now and then, asking him questions about that day, but he never had much to say." The tragic events have been recalled through a play written by Dr. Bobby Johnson, called A Texas Tragedy; performed as a one act play
One act play
A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. In recent years the 10-minute play known as "flash drama" has emerged as a popular sub-genre of the one-act play, especially in writing competitions...
by the students at Huntington High School in Huntington, Texas
Huntington, Texas
Huntington is a city in Angelina County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,068 at the 2000 census. The site is named for Collis Potter Huntington, the chairman of the board of the Southern Pacific Railroad when the town was formed and one of The Big Four...
. The 50-year anniversary of the event was commemorated in part by the release of a documentary, "The Day A Generation Died," written, produced, and directed by Jerry Gumbert.
In 2000, the New York publishing house Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. is a New York publishing house, founded by Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. in 1915. It was acquired by Random House in 1960 and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Random House. The publishing house is known for its borzoi trademark , which was designed by co-founder...
signed the journalist Sara Mosle to write the definitive, non-fiction, historical account of the tragedy. Sara Mosle, a native of Texas and previously an editor and writer at The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry. The offices are located near Times Square in New York...
, a staff writer at The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
and a frequent contributor to Slate.com, has often written about Texas subjects, public schools and education, and the inner lives of children. The book, which is based on more than 100 interviews with people directly connected to the explosion and extensive archival research, is forthcoming from Knopf. It describes the years leading up to the tragedy, including the discovery of the East Texas oil field (where Sara Mosle's grandfather worked on the rigs and her mother grew up), reporters such as Walter Cronkite and the Dallas journalist and editor Felix McKnight (whom Sara Mosle interviewed before both men died), and the years after the explosion, when survivors slowly came to terms with the tragedy.
In 2008, some of the last living survivors of the explosion shared their personal stories of their experience with documentary filmmaker and East Texas native, Kristin Beauchamp. The feature length documentary, titled "When Even Angels Wept," was released in 2009 and was a first-hand account of the disaster. It is told almost exclusively by survivors and eye witnesses. They share what they experienced on the afternoon leading up to the blast to what it was like to spend days searching East Texas towns, hospitals and morgues for missing loved ones.
, the New London School Explosion stands as the deadliest school disaster in American history and the third deadliest disaster in the history of Texas, after the Galveston Hurricane of 1900
Galveston Hurricane of 1900
The Hurricane of 1900 made landfall on the city of Galveston in the U.S. state of Texas, on September 8, 1900.It had estimated winds of at landfall, making it a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale...
, and the 1947 Texas City Disaster
Texas City Disaster
The Texas City Disaster was the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history. The incident took place on April 16, 1947, and began with a mid-morning fire on board the French-registered vessel SS Grandcamp which was docked in the Port of Texas City...
.
See also
- :Category:School fires
- Our Lady of the Angels School FireOur Lady of the Angels School FireThe Our Lady of the Angels School Fire broke out shortly before classes were to be dismissed on December 1, 1958, at the foot of a stairway in the Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago, Illinois. The elementary school was operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago...
- Collinwood School FireCollinwood School FireThe Collinwood school fire of Ash Wednesday, March 4, 1908, was one of the deadliest disasters of its type in the United States...
- Our Lady of the Angels School Fire
- Bath School DisasterBath School disasterThe Bath School disaster is the name given to three bombings in Bath Township, Michigan, on May 18, 1927, which killed 38 elementary school children, two teachers, four other adults and the bomber himself; at least 58 people were injured. Most of the victims were children in the second to sixth...
External links
- New London School Explosion
- Original New London School Explosion webpage www.nlse.org
- The London Museum
- Photo gallery of London Museum exhibits -- Tyler Morning Telegraph
- A Generation Remembers -- Longview News-Journal
- Longview News-Journal memorial coverage
- The disaster scene at New London, March 18, 1937
- 'Explosion Remembered' (KYTX/19 Eye on Education report, March 16, 2007)
- 'New London Holds Explosion Reunion' (KLTV/7 report, March 18, 2007)
- The New London School Disaster website by Robert Hilliard
- Photos of the New London School explosion, hosted by the Portal to Texas History
- Recollections by Howard Coleman of the New London School Explosion
- Reflections on a Tragedy -- Tyler Morning Telegraph
- '70th Anniversary of New London School Explosion' (KETK/56 report, March 18, 2007)
- 'Survivors remember New London school explosion' (KETK/56 report, March 18, 2007)
- The Texas Rangers and the New London, Texas, School Disaster
- Texas Bob's New London, Texas - School Disaster Page
- Universal Newsreel footage 'special release'
- History of the event from a museum near the site
- "When Even Angels Wept" Trailer
- KHOU TV retrospective
- "Lost Generation (The New London Song)," folk song by JamisonPriest.