foreign [Music] on the 18th of March 1937 students at the New London School in Texas were attending their final lessons of the day when a massive explosion ripped through the school this explosion would devastate the local community but would also lead to widespread changes which remain in place to this day the New London school explosion would go down in history as the worst disaster ever to strike a school in the United States of America the city of New London is located in the Rusk County are
a of Texas the settlement was established in 1855 when a post office was built to help serve the expanding Southern frontier throughout its early history New London relied on agriculture but this changed in 1930 when oil was discovered in the East Texas oil field overnight New London became a Boom Town while the rest of America was mired in the Great Depression New London was becoming increasingly wealthy a new school was built in 1932 for around 1 million dollars with further additions two year
s later it was a lavish high school with an elementary school attached as well as a gymnasium and a football field which was the first filled with electric lights in East Texas it was built in a California Spanish style with a red tiled roof and two stories on the main e-shaped building it was a beautiful modern school for a wealthy City there was a debate between the Architects and the school board however about which heating system they should use The Architects suggested that there should be
a boiler and steam system but the school board opted instead for 72 individual gas powered heaters to be installed throughout the school this kind of heater was in use all over America at the time and wasn't seen as at all unusual or dangerous as the school was built on sloping ground there was a large airspace underneath the structure which is where the gas pipes would be plumbed in by 1937 the school was looking for ways to save money they were spending around three hundred dollars equivalent
to around five thousand dollars in the year 2020 per month on gas from the United gas company so they decided to do something that was common practice in the area at the time and Plumb into the residue gas line of the parade gasoline company parade gasoline was in the business of extracting oil doing so often resulted in natural gas being extracted as well but this low quality gas was considered a waste product and was usually burned off as a result the company would turn a blind eye to anyone s
iphoning off their residue gas this residue natural gas which was colorless and odorless was delivered to each room through a four centimeter or one and a half inch pipe which connected to a five centimeter or two inch pipe in the basement of the building on the 18th of March 1937 a parent teacher association meeting was being held in the school gymnasium a separate building around 30 meters or 100 feet from the main School the elementary school children had been dismissed at 3pm and were making
their way home or waiting for parents who were attending the meeting High School classes were due to be dismissed at 3 30 PM around 500 students and 40 teachers were in the main building of the school throughout the day several students had reported experiencing headaches but other than that it was a day like any other nobody present at the school was aware that a leak in the gas piping had for several hours been allowing gas to accumulate in the basement and lower floors of the school at appro
ximately 3 17 PM limmy Butler a wood shop instructor began using an electric sander which due to its unreliable condition had been given the nickname old Sparky Mr Butler had recently repaired the sander so that it was ready to use again as he switched on the machine a spark was generated this spark ignited the accumulated gas and the flame was carried below the floorboards into a void space completely filled with gas instantly there was a huge explosion which was heard up to six and a half kilo
meters or four miles away eyewitnesses described the whole building bulging and Rising into the air before crashing back down to the ground the walls collapsed and the roof caved in a massive concrete block was thrown from the building and landed on a car 60 meters or 200 feet away the air was filled with debris from the blast black smoke and red clay dust created a spiraling cloud in the air the parents from the PTA meeting were the first on scene students that have been able to evacuate the bu
ilding were suffering from shock unsure what had happened or what they should be doing firefighters soon arrived but as there was no fire they joined the search for survivors amongst the rubble soon they were joined by workers from the oil fields in the surrounding area who had witnessed the blast and many of whom had children at the school the governor of Texas dispatched Texas Rangers the highway patrol and the National Guard to the scene to Aid the rescue attempts and to help control the anxi
ous crowds that were gathering at the scene Medical Aid arrived from Dallas 100 nurses 30 doctors and 25 embalmers who worked in makeshift field hospitals in the buildings around the school there was no Hospital in New London but a hospital was due to open the following day in nearby Tyler so this facility started accepting the victims one hundred children were taken there but there were only 60 beds Rubble was initially moved by hand or using a shipment of peach baskets that were delivered to t
he scene later heavy machinery and floodlights from the oil fields were delivered when two news reporters were sent to the scene to report on the blast they were told that helpers were needed far more than reporters and so they joined in the rescue effort the school principal Troy Duran was responsible for identifying the dead before they were taken to Temporary morgues one of which was at a nearby ice rink school bus driver Lonnie Barber was taking elementary students back home when he heard th
e blast he nonetheless completed his route reuniting children with their worried parents before returning to look for his own four children at the site of the explosion tragically his son Arden had not survived after 17 hours of searching all of the victims had been recovered with each individual basket of rubble painstakingly searched for body parts before it was removed from the site even after all of the bodies have been recovered there was a heightened state of panic and confusion parents fo
ught over the bodies desperate to discover what had happened to their children victims were frequently misidentified one student w.g Watson recalled hearing his own name listed as one of the Dead on the radio 294 people students and teachers were killed in the explosion funerals were held at a rate of three or four each hour at the local Cemetery which set aside an entire section to bury the victims the story was reported around the world first lady Eleanor Roosevelt sent a telegram to express h
er sympathy as did the leader of Germany's Nazi party Adolf Hitler in the aftermath of the disaster the governor ordered a military Court of inquiry but was stymied by the fact that most evidence had been destroyed in the blast it was determined that the gas leak was likely to have been in a faulty connection where the school tapped into the residue line gas had accumulated in the void space under the floor and the basement steadily Rising until a spark had ignited it no school officials were fo
und liable for the blast which angered many parents several lawsuits against the parade gasoline company were initiated but due to a lack of evidence all were dismissed the shock and horror of the tragedy did prompt Swift action from authorities by May 1937 two months after the blast House Bill 1017 was approved and became immediately effective this required a strong smelling malodorant to be added to natural gas so that people would be able to tell if there was a leak this is now standard pract
ice all over the world a simple intervention that has without a doubt saved many many lives a memorial was built in 1939 and stands today in front of a new school which was built as a replacement an exhibit in the New London Museum displays artifacts that were rescued from the wreckage including a classroom chalkboard which reads oil and natural gas are East Texas's greatest mineral blessing famed broadcaster Walter Cronkite was a junior reporter for United press at the time of the disaster and
attended the scene he went on to cover World War II and the Nuremberg trials as well as anchoring the CBS Evening News late in his career he said I did nothing in my studies nor in my life to prepare me for the story of the magnitude of that New London tragedy nor has any story since that awful day equaled it foreign
Comments
The bus driver getting the kids safely home to let their parents know they were safe, all the while not knowing if his own kids were safe, that's the detail that brought a tear. I can't even imagine.
The chalkboard with the message about how great natural gas is and the sanding machine being called Ol' Sparky are little details that would be so obviously unrealistic if this wasn't a true story
This is devastating but I’m grateful for the change in smell. Two weeks ago we were saved by that smell. No one had noticed the gas leak and were all fatigued. The smell alerted us.
You know it’s bad when Hitler sends an apology card.
This intro music is truly the best 'eerie' music. So well written and perfect for this channel, I hope it never changes.
I feel so bad for the principal having to identify all those bodies 😔 I’m sure that was traumatizing
Both my father's parents and two aunts survived New London. My grandfather still had plaster embedded in his shoulder when he passed away in 1991 and his sister could not have children due to her injuries. She's still kicking at 103, literally. For years we went to the bi-annual reunion taking my grandmother to Texas from IL. It was the richest school in the country due to the oil production on the grounds. It was also the first news story that Walter Cronkite covered as a reporter, and he said he would never forget it.
fun little side thing about the smell of natural gas: my professor in gen chem 1 back in community college told us a story about while he was working in his lab on sulfur containing compounds for his phd he had a intern dump some waste liquid down the drain, that waste liquid reacted with the water and whatever in the drain to create hydrogen sulfide ie: the smell of rotten eggs and it travelled through the drains into every room in the science building and also the arts building at his university, causing the entire place to be evacuated until they finally found out the smell was coming from the in floor drains and not the gas lines he got in serious trouble for that one
I like how this channel covers so many tragedies that I'm not familiar with so it will never become stale
I knew a malodorant was added to natural gas, but did not know the backstory. Then I met the man who is now my spouse. One day I said something about the awful smell natural gas and he asked if I knew why it smelled that way. That was the day I learned of the New London School disaster. His mother was a preschooler at the time. Her eldest sister and brother did not survive the blast and another sister, thrown from the building, never walked unaided again. Their father was one of the oilfield workers who helped dig thru the rubble. It isn't something that's ever discussed by the family and what it must have been like in that household in the aftermath doesn't bear contemplation.
I admire the bus driver continuing to do his job knowing that parents would be worried.
“First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt sent a telegram to express her sympathy,” “As did the leader of Germany’s Nazi Party, Adolf Hitler” Well that took a turn
I remember reading a book about this disaster and how they scapegoated the school principal even though that whole community was illegally siphoning natural gas. And they knew there was a risk in doing that.
Saw an interview with a survivor and he said he switched seats with a girl so he could sit behind the girl he liked. He lived and the girl he switched seats with died. He said he struggled with that for years. On a side note I rode in an elevator in DC with Cronkite.
It's always particularly tragic when children are involved 😢. And at such massive scale, too. It's like a good chunk of the town's future died that day.
you know this accident is horrifying that even freaking Hitler himself sends condolences to America whom later became an enemy to Germany.
It is important to know that any switch of electricity produces a spark, it doesn't have to be faulty and it can happen turning something on as well as off and in automated systems such as a central heating pump. So if you smell gas in a building you need to get out and leave the door open without turning any switches on or off. Turn off the gas valve if you can but don't put yourself at risk to do that.
I feel like that detail about First Lady Roosevelt and Hitler sending their condolences will stick out in most minds that see this video. You really do a great job telling these stories.
I’m still processing the fact that Adolf Hitler sent his sympathies to the victims of this awful tragedy 😭
One of my university professors said that the unmistakable odor which was added to natural gas is basically the smell of rotting flesh. This odor was used to help workers locate gas pipeline leaks in remote areas (deserts, etc) because buzzards were attracted to the smell and would circle overhead.