New London School explosion
[4] The London School was built on sloping ground, and a large air space was enclosed 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.
Gas had been leaking from the residue line tap and built up inside the enclosed crawlspace that ran the entire 253-foot (77 m) length of the main school building's facade.
[8] 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.
[10] Survivors in the building claimed that lockers embedded in the wall were thrown at them by the blast, others were picked up by the force of the explosion, and the plaster and mortar formed a white haze.
[2] The force of the explosion was so great that a two-ton concrete block was thrown clear off the building and crushed a 1936 Chevrolet parked 200 feet away.
[2] 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.
[12] Other school buses were employed to drive ambulatory survivors back to their homes, causing family members who were waiting at the bus stops to demand information from students disembarking.
"[15] Buildings in the neighboring communities of Henderson, Overton, Kilgore and as far away as Tyler and Longview were converted into makeshift first aid tents and morgues to house the enormous number of bodies,[9] and everything from family cars to delivery trucks served as hearses and ambulances.
A student survivor recounted being in a makeshift morgue: "I saw fathers fight over dead children like dogs over a bone, yelling 'That's mine!'
Inside tents and modified buildings, classes resumed ten days later, with the thirty surviving seniors completing the school year in the gymnasium.
[25] Adolf Hitler, who was the leader of Nazi Germany at the time, paid his respects in the form of a telegram, a copy of which is on display at the London Museum.
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 legislature about the importance of safety in schools.
The 50th anniversary of the event, in 1987, was commemorated in part by the release of a documentary, The Day A Generation Died, written, produced, and directed by Jerry Gumbert.
[32] 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.
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.
[citation needed] In March 2012, survivors and others gathered together at the town's rebuilt school in remembrance of the 75th anniversary of the disaster.
[20] In 2012, Brown began work on a new documentary about the east Texas oil field discovery and its eventual role in the New London School disaster.
The film, Shadow Across The Path, was released in 2017, and features excerpts from an interview that Brown conducted with Walter Cronkite in his New York office at CBS.
Museum tours were originally hosted by Mollie Ward, herself a survivor of the explosion, who later served as Mayor of New London before passing away in 2013.
