NEW LONDON, Texas — Thursday marked the 84th anniversary of one the largest disasters in East Texas history.
On March 18, 1937, the New London school exploded and collapsed after natural gas seeped into the building.
Of the 500 students and 40 teachers in the building, approximately 294 died.
“No one is dead, truly dead, no one speaks their names,” New London Museum board member Fred Parsons said. “So, it is our desire, as volunteers here at the museum, to keep those people alive by speaking their names on a regular basis. That’s what we’re here for.”
On Thursday afternoon, about 70 people gathered in front of the New London School memorial to honor those who lost their lives on that tragic day.
"On March 18 students prepared for the next day's Inter-scholastic meet in Henderson," the New London Museum website states. "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' long and 56' 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."
At 3:17 p.m., the time when the building exploded, there was a minute of silence and then Taps played.
The New London Museum is open Monday - Friday from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. from March until August.