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Male |
Female |
Total |
| grade 5 |
26 |
41 |
67 |
| grade 6 |
33 |
54 |
87 |
| grade 7 |
17 |
17 |
34 |
| grade 8 |
12 |
19 |
31 |
| grade 9 |
7 |
4 |
11 |
| grade 10 |
9 |
7 |
16 |
| grade 11 |
13 |
10 |
23 |
| Teachers |
3 |
13 |
16 |
| Other |
5 |
3 |
8 |
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| TOTALS |
125 |
167 |
293 |
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The museum contains Exhibits of artifacts from
the 1937 disaster as well as a Tearoom. It is
open to the public daily. |
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Click Here
For More Info |
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Click On Map To Enlarge |
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Located in East Texas south of Kilgore, Between
Tyler & Longview. |
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THE WEBSITE IS BACK ONLINE! |
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We are very excited about having the website
back online. with the passing of William Grigg,
Jr., a state of confusion existed concerning the
continuation of the site. Bill was on complete
charge of everything and that knowledge was
lost. Ironically, a guardian angel had copied
the entire data base in case something happened
between Bill's
passing and the transition of the site. the new
website, NewLondonSchool.org is the rebirth of
Bill's
dream. |
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Very few people realized the scope encompassed
by the site. Bill had compiled well over
100 pages of data and hundreds of pictures. Bill
was friends with hundreds of people via the
internet whose faces he never saw. They relied
on him for the knowledge and he never let them
down. We hope to continue this legacy. |
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We will continue to be a source of knowledge
concerning the New London School Explosion.
There will be some modernization of the site,
updating photos and information, and improving
user friendliness. We welcome your suggestions
about its content. |
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London Museum |
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Tragic Events Of March 18th, 1937 |
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In 1937 New London, Texas, in northwest Rusk
County, had one of the richest rural school
districts in the United States. Community
residents in the East Texas oilfields were proud
of the beautiful, modern, steel-framed, E-shaped
school building.
On March 18 students prepared for the next day's
Inter-scholastic meet in Henderson. At the
gymnasium, the PTA met. At 3:17 P.M. Lemmie R.
Butler, instructor of manual training, turned on
a sanding machine in an area which, unknown to
him, was filled with a mixture of gas and air.
The switch ignited the mixture and carried the
flame into a nearly closed space beneath the
building, 253 feet long and fifty-six feet wide.
Immediately the building seemed to lift in the
air and then smashed to the ground. Walls
collapsed. The roof fell in and buried its
victims in a mass of brick, steel, and concrete
debris. The explosion was heard four miles away,
and it hurled a two-ton concrete slab 200 feet
away, where it crushed a 1936 Chevrolet.
Fifteen minutes later, the news of the explosion
had been relayed over telephone and Western
Union lines. Frantic parents at the PTA meeting
rushed to the school building. Community
residents and roughnecks from the East Texas
oilfield came with heavy-duty equipment. Within
an hour Governor James Allred had sent the Texas
Rangers and highway patrol to aid the victims.
Doctors and medical supplies came from Baylor
Hospital and Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled
Children in Dallas and from Nacogdoches, Wichita
Falls, and the United States Army Air Corps at
Barksdale Field in Shreveport, Louisiana. They
were assisted by deputy sheriffs from Overton,
Henderson, and Kilgore, by the Boy Scouts, the
American Legion, the American Red Cross, the
Salvation Army, and volunteers from the Humble
Oil Company, Gulf Pipe Line, Sinclair, and the
International-Great Northern Railroad.
Workers began digging through the rubble looking
for victims. Floodlights were set up, and the
rescue operation continued through the night as
rain fell.
Within seventeen hours all victims and debris
had been taken from the site. Mother Francis
Hospital in Tyler canceled its elaborate
dedication ceremonies to take care of the
injured. The Texas Funeral Directors sent
twenty-five embalmers.
Of the 500 students and forty teachers in the
building, approximately 298 died. Some rescuers,
students, and teachers needed psychiatric
attention, and only about 130 students escaped
serious injury. Those who died received
individual caskets, individual graves, and
religious services.
If anyone has a personal story or one passed
down from a survivor or rescuer connected to the
New London School Explosion, we would appreciate
your sharing it. Please contact me via email to
make arrangements for shipping. UPS or USPS is
fine. If possible include a (then and now)
photograph of the pertinent people. All
contributions will be acknowledged and credited
(if desired). Thanks. |
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Naomi [sic] Jewell Smith has been recorded as
one of those who perished in the explosion. This
information is documented not only in official
records, but in the engraving at the base of the
cenotaph.
Noma (correct spelling) Jewell Smith survived
the disaster and later married Billy Conley. She
died on January 29, 2000 and is buried with her
husband at Williams Cemetery, New Chapel Hill,
Smith County, Texas. |
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New London School Explosion Website |
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this website Is a replacement for
WWW.NLSE.ORG.
The original website was maintained by William
(Bill) N. Grigg, Jr. Since September 22 2001. on
his passing this website was acquired and
built using his NLSE.Org as a model. |
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