The New London School Explosion

The place was the New London School in Texas. The date was the 18th of March 1937, the event was the deadliest ever to take place in the US School Building. Despite the great depression New London was a prosperous town thanks to an oil find seven years earlier and the schools have been constructed for the princely sum of $1 million. But still shorts cuts were taken to save money the natural gas contract have been cancel and it happened been stored into a residue gas line this would be the schools own doing.

Being odorless and colorless leaking gas have been causing the students headaches but was undetected until that Thursday afternoon of March. Triggered by the switching on of an electric sander the explosion destroyed the school killing at least 300 people. The blast actually blew the roof off the school as it crushed back down it cost the entire building to collapse. Aid for swift and plentiful the parents and the Texas national guard and even boy scouts taking part in the heart breaking task of recovering the bodies. One mother didn’t make it, so coming to an heart attack when discovering her daughter have been literally blown to pieces.

Even reporters were drafted into help, a young wilted crone pipe is on of his first assignments and was later to say “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 stories since that awful day equaled it” and this was from a man who would later come in the second World War in the Nuremberg trials. Two years later a new school was completed which kept the name New London until 1665 since then it has been known as the West Rusk High School.

A law suit bought against the gasoline company that night that could be held responsible. But some good did come of the tragedy to prevent such a thing from ever happening happened it was ruled the strong smelling thiols be added to natural gas. So that any leaks could be discovered quickly, it was a practice that soon to cuff around the world.


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