Before I got to the Overton hospital, the rescue workers took me to a hotel that had been taking in injured children. About a month later, my daddy had a nervous breakdown. I had blood all over my face, and my hair was white. Amos S. Etheredge was in the seventh grade. Of the 500 students and 40 teachers estimated to be at the school, 294 people were confirmed dead and there may have been more victims, officials at the museum said. It came out of the ground when they drilled for oil. People rushed to the scene to pull out survivors; hundreds of injured students were hauled from the rubble. Bill Thompson: Everything had been changing since the first oil blew in, people coming in from everywhere. I told him, Papa, the superintendent lost family too. She now lives in Austin: I had just finished performing a minuet in the gymnasium for the PTA and had walked up into the stands to sit down next to my mother when all of a sudden the building, which was wooden, started rocking back and forth. WebDocumentaries Museum Films/Videos Books/Music/Plays Books Written and Published About the New London School Explosion One Day in New London By P.L. At the cenotaph in New London, 294 crosses represent the lives lost on March 18, 1937, when a spark from a shop sander ignited natural gas leaking beneath the New London School. Marion Steen (whose maiden name was Walker) was in the eleventh grade. (Original Caption) Rescue workers as they were removing the victims of the frightful school blast at New London, Texas, from the ruins of the building. Because Kimble County Texas had already established a US Post Office station named London, the town changed its name to "New London" in 1931. Lois Johnson: Lawyers came to my uncles door asking him to help in a lawsuit against the school, and he almost got his shotgun. I blocked the memory out of my life. We didnt realize at the time that Id been whomper-jawed so badly on the inside that Id never be able to have children. Local citizens rebuilt the school over the next two years, replacing the natural gas with steam heat. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. Someone pulled me out and placed me on the ground. William G. Moore Jr.: There were big slabs that needed moving, but some you could handle with enough people. In nineteen sixty-six the name was changed to West Rusk County Consolidated High School. Nathan Durham: We stopped at the hospital in Henderson and told everybody about the explosion. They started picking the kids up and lining them against the fence on the south side of the building. All rights reserved. Mr. Toler was born two years after the explosion. We also had reporting by Monaliza Noormohammadi. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.0 males. What maturity I didnt have came at that time. I dont know how long I was unconscious. He put his hands over his face and said, Oh, my God! Save on everything from shoes to vacuums ahead of Amazon's big sale. Charles Dial was in the sixth grade. The building had separate areas for the lower grades and for a high school. Christopher Hooks writes mostly about Texas politics and occasionally about more serious subjects. Eventually, the legal requirement for malodorant in natural gas became a legal requirement in the United States. One family lost all three children; one mother could positively identify her ten-year-olds body only because the little girl, while playing dress-up the night before, had used a crayon to color her toenails red. RELATED: New London explosion 80 years later, "We'd walk by the center of town every day," Davidson said, "I read the names on it [the memorial] but it didn't dawn on me until high school just what happened here.". Enter a date in the format M/D (e.g., 1/1), Natural gas explosion kills nearly 300 at Texas school, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/natural-gas-explosion-kills-schoolchildren-in-texas, Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte becomes the first Native American woman to graduate from medical school, This Day In History: 03/18/1852 - Wells and Fargo Founded, Wells and Fargo start shipping and banking company, Irving Berlin copyrights the biggest pop song of the early 20th century, Nationalist Chinese forces invade mainland China, War Relocation Authority is established in United States. Nine weeks after the disaster, a law went into effect that required architects to have an education from an approved school, an apprenticeship, and a passed exam. One girl was completely twisted around. I guess I looked a fright. Nothing. The school board knew about this and had given the go ahead despite obvious dangers. It was just the shock of it, I guess. 8 of Hawaiis most incredible hotels, plus deals and 11 travel essentials to pack for a destination wedding, 10 essential running accessories for hot weather, This Costco membership deal puts $30 back in your pocket, Beat the heat with these personal cooling devices, 6 outdoor rugs that'll turn your backyard into an oasis, 10 of the best early Prime Day deals you can score now, Hey Dude shoes are quietly up to 50% off on Amazon right now, Reddit blackout crashes site amid sitewide revolt against CEO. We were looking for that red blouse. It required gas suppliers to add an odor to natural gas so people would know if there was a leak. I dont remember seeing anybody to talk to. Rose Cahalan is a senior editor who focuses primarily on stories about travel and the outdoors. I went around a car that was upside down with the wheels spinning wildly. Then my little sister brought me to another body and said, No, this is him over here. We reached into the coat pocket and found a cord that Travis had been using to play with a top. She was standing in front of the building, crying. This iconic TX hotel has been restored to its original grandeur. The Engineering Registration Act was also passed in 1937. Margaret Nichols (whose maiden name was Siler) was in the seventh grade. My reflexes were gone. Mary Lou Moring: When I got home from the clinic in Overton, my dad asked, Is there anything you want? I told him, I want pink shoes. And he bought me pink patent-leather shoes. Other states quickly followed. She now lives in Henderson: I was working in the library and checking out this book to a boy when the blast knocked me under a wood counter. The median age was 39 years. MILES TOLER: "The blast literally eliminates the front half of the school.". A gas explosion at a school killed nearly three hundred children and adults. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. Some critics question the idea of sending work outside the country. Somebody went in with Daddy, and two people came out on both sides of him, holding him up. In the back, kids were stacked up like wood. John Spong writes primarily about popular culture. LEILA JANAH: "I think it's important to remember that a person is a person, whether it's a poor person in Bangladesh or a poor person in rural Mississippi. MILES TOLER: "I don't know how you walk past it where everybody was killed in the explosion, but you do and you go to the gym and other buildings on the campus and you finish the school year out.". Barbara Page: One day my mother went to garden club, and the women were talking about the explosion. Today, because of the familiar stink of a chemical called mercaptan, another tragedy like New London is far less likely to occur. I was yelling to my friend Pearl, who had been standing to my left, and she never answered me. Although dozens of grieving families filed lawsuits against the school district, a judge dismissed those that came to trial; no official was held liable and no fine was ever levied. Disney Plus is Disneys flagship, on-demand streaming service. Marjorie Kinney: I was in sixth grade at that time, and there were four sixth-grade classes. WebThe New London School Explosion of March 18, 1937, killed hundreds of students in the East Texas town. Marjorie Kinney (whose maiden name was Bryan) was in the sixth grade. They had emotional problems. All the people in the front of my room were killed: the girl reading the book report, the teacher. The high school students were nearly finished for the day. Ed Crudup: I worked without going home. (Photo by Bettmann/CORBIS/Bettmann Archive), (Original Caption) L.V. Fran VanAssen (whose maiden name was Begley) was in the fifth grade. Maxine Lawson (whose maiden name was Kelley) was in the sixth grade. I was seventeen years old. LEILA JANAH: "I really flipped my understanding of economic development and poverty on its head and I realized that we don't live in a global meritocracy.". I saw a playmates body almost covered in concrete with a Popsicle still in her mouth. I just praise God that he was watching after us that day, Dawson said. I was thinking about just taking the bus? "What (was supposed to be) a regular school day turned out to be America's worse school day.". NEW LONDON, Texas (KETK) It was a day of remembrance for the 294 lives lost at the New London School explosion 85 years ago on Saturday. We were the first people from New London they had seen. WebNearly 300 students in Texas are killed by an explosion of natural gas at their school on March 18, 1937. She visited an outsourcing center in India. They can put things behind them. But you know how kids are. WebBettmann/Bettmann Archive NEW LONDON, Texas (AP) Otis Bryan was filling an inkwell on March 18, 1937, when suddenly the 11-year-old fifth-grader's art class in his school in There were about one hundred of us that were supposed to graduate, and we had about fifty at the end of the year. He was acquitted. Jones is a volunteer docent at the New London Museum and said that incident is the reason natural gas now has a smell similar to rotten eggs. The Story Weve Been Told About Juneteenth Is Wrong, LeAnn Mueller, Barbecue Groundbreaker, Dies at 51, Meet Your New Nightmare, the Hammerhead Worm, Willie Nelsons Son Micah on Trigger, Roger Miller, and Still Is Still Moving to Me, Ryan Holiday, the Stoic King of Bastrop County, Is the Man of the Moment, More Colorful Texas Sayings Than You Can Shake a Stick At, The Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints: 2021 Edition. William Follis: After I came to, several minutes after the blast, I started helping the rescue workers dig kids out. Wet gas is a type of waste gas that is less stable and has more impurities than typical natural gas. My older sister asked my uncle Jessie if Daddy told him how she looked. William Follis was in the seventh grade. Everybody was killed in general science except one, who was crippled for life. Two of the pupils in my class were fixing to push another one out, but I thought it was too far for them to jump since we were on the second floor. But people were allowed to tap into pipelines carrying the waste gas and use it for fuel in homes and buildings. The success of the first reunion, held forty years after the disaster, prompted biennial gatherings, and in 1998 the London Museum opened its doors, dedicating a large portion of space to the explosion. Samasource connects workers to jobs through the Internet. She now lives in Fort Worth: When the parents began to arrive, they took the buses and tied the horns down, turning them into sirens. I jumped out of my seat and started a step or two. Admitted arsonist William Estel Benson sits in a police station after confessing to police that 24 years earlier he had sabotaged gas lines under a New London, Texas, school causing an explosion that killed 296 students and teachers on March 18, 1937. Had that fertilizer fire happened just a couple of hours earlier it would have been another New London. Our sports teams played, and our band performed as it had before. Charles Dial: Yes, they were angry. May 2023 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? Many of the victims identified by what they were wearing to school that day, or an item they always had with them. That was a shock. (Photo by Bettmann/CORBIS/Bettmann Archive). Im guessing 120 kids, with 30 a room. He says the museum has been able to confirm the deaths of two hundred ninety-three children, teachers and visitors. Superintendent W.C. Shaw, who lost one of his sons in the tragedy. This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties. The moms and dads were devastated. I crawled out from what used to be the ceiling and saw the children jumping out the windows. Some people wanted to tar and feather him. Ed Crudup was in the ninth grade. So chaotic was the scene that an exact count of the dead was impossible, although the tally of the injured was pegged at 184. The blast, which came without warning because natural gas had no smell back then, was felt by people 40 miles away and killed most victims instantly. Marjorie Kinney: We went to as many funerals as we could. There were 388 housing units at an average density of 44.9 per square mile (17.3/km2). Ira Joe Moore was in the tenth grade. [11], Media related to New London, Texas at Wikimedia Commons. I yelled, Get me out of here! and they pulled up whatever was on top of me. Lois Johnson (whose maiden name was Rainwater) was in the seventh grade. I took the blame for a lot of things. I said, Come back down! "Daddy would not say one word about the school explosion," John Davidson, whose sister was killed in the explosion, said. It was the worst school disaster in U.S. history. I asked the principal, Mr. [Felton] Waggoner, if I could go home instead of going to study hall. Without them this school would not be here and none of us would be here learning our lessons. On March 18, students in the first through fourth grades had been dismissed as usual at two-thirty. I knew that the body in front of me was dead. I sat down beside my brother, and he wasnt obviously hurt. Males had a median income of $27,981 versus $15,313 for females. A memorial service held inside the auditorium was followed by a luncheon. More than 300 students and teachers She now lives in Lufkin: My daddy had a country grocery store on the highway between Henderson and Kilgore, about six miles from New London. 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new london, texas explosion
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