295+ Children Killed in 1937 New London, TX School Explosion

[Renew Deal]

Does anyone know about this story? Apparently there was a gas leak in the basement of a school and it eventually exploded. Over 295 kids were killed with many more injured. This is an incomprehensible tragedy. The video below describes the event.

More video and info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London_School_explosion

[JI7]

1. you should put date in your subject line

[cyberswede]

2. Seconded. nt

[JI7]

3. i remember some mention of it during the more recent warehouse explosion

but haven't looked into it yet.

i wonder if schools in texas teach it more .

[cyberswede]

4. Wow

London School bus driver Lonnie Barber was transporting elementary students to their homes, and was in sight of the school as it exploded. Barber continued his two hour route, returning children to their parents before rushing back to the school to look for his four children. His son Arden died, but the others were not seriously injured.[6] Barber retired the next year.

Awful tragedy!

[NYC_SKP]

5. The odor you smell from natural gas from the addition of mercaptans is a product of this tragedy.

[cyberswede]

6. Of note...

Gov't regulations do protect people - and citizens in 1937 knew it.

Shortly after the disaster, the Texas Legislature met in emergency session and enacted the Engineering Registration Act (now rewritten as the Texas Engineering Practice Act). 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 Texas Legislature about the importance of safety in schools.[11] The use of the title "engineer" in Texas remains legally restricted to those who have been professionally certified by the state to practice engineering.[11]

[SunSeeker]

7. Wow, so that's the genesis for the law requiring odor be added to natural gas.

What a tragic story. And Walter Cronkite covered it as a young Texan reporter. I had no idea he was from Texas. He sure reported some terrible tragedies during his career.

Amazing video. Thanks.

[Eleanors38]

9. Cronkite went to, but did not graduate from, U.Texas.

Natural gas has no odor, but after 1937 the odor we associate with gas was added. An aside, the persistent problem of sparks from electrical switches (a normal occurance) was the cause of many shipboard explosions in war time: Damaged ships, esp. carriers, often had ruptured gasoline tanks (to fuel fighter planes) which ignited when vent fans were cut on. The problem was partly redressed by filling fuel lines & hoses with inert CO2 gas as the ship came under attack.

[reflection]

8. I remember reading about it a few years ago

Just a terrible story.

[Lifelong Protester]

10. Yes, the reason why I know about it

is that when I was in graduate school, doing work in Public History, one thing we did as students was to date artifacts for people (letters, pictures, etc.)
One letter I worked on had no date, but I was able to place it in 1937 as the woman writing it said "wasn't it a shame about all those kids in that gas explosion in Texas?"
That might not seem like such a big deal (dating the letter) but remember, this was before the internet (it was 1983) and I had to do all that research in old musty newspapers and archival items. I enjoyed doing that research (and still love that musty smell of archival materials).

[SheilaT]

11. There's a book out there about it

Gone at 3:17 by David M. Brown and Michael Wereschagin. It came out in 2012. I have a copy, just haven't had a chance to read it yet.