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NEW LONDON SCHOOL EXPLOSION
by Archie
P. McDonald, PhD
New London, Rusk
County, Texas
Hwy 42
12 miles south of Kilgore
122 miles southeast of Dallas
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East
Texas has had more than its share of disasters -- the Galveston
hurricane of 1900 and the industrial explosions in Texas City in 1946 are
examples -- but the day the school house in New
London blew up has a singular pathos because so many of its victims were children.
New London is
located in Rusk County in the oil patch. Wealth from the EasTex field enabled
its residents to erect one of the most modern school buildings in the state.
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Now
London High School before explosion
Photo courtesy texasoldphotos.com |
By
3:05 P.M. on March 18, 1937, the school day had nearly ended. Younger grades had
been dismissed and some youngsters waited on school buses for older students to
join them for the ride home. Some students still in the building practiced for
Interscholastic League competition while others put away materials. A PTA meeting
was being held in the adjacent gymnasium. Then industrial arts teacher Lemmie
Butler turned on a sander in his shop and a spark ignited natural gas that had
leaked from pipes under the school and been trapped in rooms throughout the building.
The building was lifted in the explosion, then crushed into rubble. Residents
who lived four miles away heard the explosion, though they were not alarmed at
first because such noises often came from the oil field. Those who knew what had
happened quickly spread the word, and help came. Governor James Allred sent Texas
Rangers and Highway Patrolmen to assist local law enforcement personnel. If alive,
victims were rushed to area hospitals; if not, the Texas Funeral Directors Association
sent twenty-five embalmers to help in the massive task of preparing the nearly
300 dead for burial. |
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Scene
of London School Explosion
Mar. 18, 1937
Photo courtesy texasoldphotos.com |
What
had happened? To save a monthly $300 bill for natural gas usage at the school,
the school district had tapped into a gas line coming from the field. Natural
gas is odorless, so teachers and students in the building were unaware that leaks
had allowed it to become trapped in the building. The spark from the sander ignited
the gas and the explosion destroyed the school.
However unwise, the practice
of using such gas was a common one in the area. The major positive that came from
the New London School Explosion was legislation requiring gas companies to add
an odor to their product so anyone can determine when natural gas is leaking or
not properly utilized. |
New
London High School and Cenotaph
commemorating the disaster
Postcard
courtesy www.rootsweb.com/%7Etxpstcrd/ |
New
London's citizens
built a new school and in 1939 a cenotaph was erected nearby in memory to the
students and teachers who lost their lives in the worst single disaster East Texans
ever suffered.
All Things
Historical
Dec. 9-15, 2001 Column
A syndicated column in over 40 East Texas newspapers
(Archie P. McDonald
is Director of the East Texas Historical Association and author or editor of over
20 books on Texas)
Published with permission |
New
London School Explosion Related Articles New
London, TexasNew
London Museum
by Bob BowmanNew
London School Explosion
by Archie P. McDonald
Dr. Bobby H. Johnson, my long-time colleague at Stephen
F. Austin State University, has written a play based on the New London School
Explosion which occurred on March 18, 1937...
Phoenix
Bird of Texas
by George Lester
"I learned that our museum guide was a survivor of that
fateful event. As she talked to us, my memory went back many years ...."
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