page_title: New London School explosion
section_title: Remembrance
hierarchical_section_title: New London School explosion / Remembrance
caption_attribution_description: English: The top of the cenotaph in New London commemorating the 1937 disaster
context_page_description: The New London School explosion occurred on March 18, 1937, when a natural gas leak caused an explosion, destroying the London School of New London, Texas, a community in Rusk County previously known as "London". The disaster killed more than 295 students and teachers. As of 2017, the event is the third deadliest disaster in the history of Texas, after the 1900 Galveston hurricane and the 1947 Texas City disaster.
context_section_description: A large granite cenotaph on the median of Texas State Highway 42 across from the school site, erected in 1939, commemorates the disaster.
  Over the years, the New London School explosion received surprisingly little attention, given the magnitude of the event. Explanations for this are speculative, but most center around residents' unwillingness to discuss the tragedy. L. V. Barber said of his father Lonnie, "I can remember newspaper people coming around every now and then, asking him questions about that day, but he never had much to say." A former student mentioned in 2007; "People were afraid to talk about it; almost no family in this community was unaffected, and whenever people would tell us about the explosion it would be sort of in whispers and don't say anything in front of so-and-so because they lost a sister."
  In recent years, as the disaster has gained historical perspective, it has been increasingly covered by researchers and journalists.
  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.
  In 1998, The London Museum and Tea House, across the highway from the school site, opened. Its first curator, Mollie Ward, was an explosion survivor.
  In March 2012, survivors and others gathered together at the town's rebuilt school in remembrance of the 75th anniversary of the disaster.
caption: The top of the London School cenotaph by sculptor Matchett Herring Coe
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