New London School Explosion

Cody Lyle
Goff lynch
English 1311
06-10-14
New London School explosion
Have you ever wondered why natural gas smells so bad? Why the smell of it is so distinctive that when you smell it you realize that it is gas. Well 77 years ago, a gas leak sprung into a school that was filled with young students and parents that were instantly killed with the blast and hundreds injured due to flying debris . The New London school was one of the richest schools in the US due to a strike of Oil in Kilgore TX,just a few min away from the town of New London. My grandmother informed about this tragic incident nearly 10 years ago when I went to visit her. She told me stories of how some kids were fortunate to live and some who were not so lucky. My grandmother was in a play on That day and it just ended so she went outside and waited for her parents to come get her and then the school ignited. To this day it is hard for her to talk about it, but she tries to inform everybody about it because not many people know about this tragic incident.
The New London school district was amongst the richest school districts in the United States at the time, and even though the Great depression had no sign of stopping, people who lived in the area never felt the struggles of the depression like the rest of the country did. In the late 1920’s, Oil was struck in Kilgore TX,   just a few miles away from the new London school, which caused Texas to become one of the leading oil producers of the world. Workers from all around the US was coming to New London looking for work due to the oil boom.
On March 14, 1937, A gas leak sprung underneath the school due to a break in a heater line. The gas leak filled the basement of the school for 4 days. The basement was constructed with 1ft of cement on each wall and 1ft of cement of the ceiling and was 7ft tall and it was under the whole entire school.   As the Gas circulated underneath the school, the School was conducting a play for student and...