| OCR Text |
Show Stricken School Was U. S. Richest Located in Heart of East Texas Oil Fields. Henderson, Tex. The London Lon-don Consolidated school, wrecked in the horrible explosion ex-plosion which blotted out the lives of hundreds of children instantly, is believed to have been the finest rural school of its type in the United States. In the heart of the East Texas oil fields, it is located lo-cated in one of the wealthiest sections of the world. The blast itself is believed to have been caused by explosion of natural gas from the seven oil wells on the school campus. The school district encompasses some thirty square miles with an assessed valuation of 16 million dollars. dol-lars. The community sprang up almost al-most over night following the discovery dis-covery of one of the most productive oil fields known. Quickly Paid For. With "black gold" flowing from its own wells, the school plant had no difficulty in raising the several hundred thousand dollars spent in its construction. It is not only debt free but its original value has multiplied mul-tiplied many times. In 1931, when wealth gushed out . of the ground for the communities of London and New London, the schools serving the two villages were merged and the present district dis-trict set up. The school lies midway between the two communities. The site of the disaster scene can readily be located by drawing a line from Tyler, a city of 35,000, largest in the district, to Henderson. 1,500 in Eight Grades. The wrecked school had an enrollment en-rollment of 1,500 students, from the fifth grade to the third year of high school. The building had been constructed in units, the first of which was built in 1934. The completed structure contained 30 classrooms and an auditorium au-ditorium large enough to accommodate accommo-date half of the total enrollment. Equipped to teach stenography, music, manual training, and sewing, sew-ing, as well as academic subjects, it was the proud boast of the community com-munity that its institution was as fine as could be found in any rural section of the country. At one side of the main building stood the gymnasium, and at the other stood a grade school for children chil-dren from the kindergarten to the fifth grade. The home of the superintendent super-intendent also stood on the school grounds. All Are Fireproof. All of the buildings were of fireproof fire-proof construction and ample size. The grade, or grammar school, was a two story brick building about 100 by 125 feet. The main building had a two story umt in the center, about 50 feet wide and 60 feet deep, which housed the auditorium and various laboratories, laborato-ries, and wings on either side. These wings, each 30 feet deep and 65 feet long, gave the building a frontage of 180 feet. From a high window of the school one could look out across a plain dotted almost solidly as far as the eye could reach by oil derricks. Thousands of these rear their smut-covered smut-covered skeletons from 50 to 100 feet in the air. Smooth Dirt Roads. Broad dirt roads, of the sort listed on road maps as first class C grade, are the main highways here. They are almost as smooth as glass, and at this time of the year are dry. Ditches are three feet deep on each side and the shoulders, in some cases, are edged with asphalt or gravel. Under the scorching sun that beats down with stifling force nine months out of the year, the houses and other wooden structures are like tinder boxes, dry as dust and ready to burst into flames at the slightest spark. Practically no building is more than two stories high. Many of the office buildings, stores, and even the banks in the villages are only one-story affairs. Despite the dirt roads and bare earth, nearly everyone in the school district is well-off financially because be-cause of the oil. The people ride in expensive cars, for the most part, to their enter- Went !,nc?allas' Houston. Frt Worth, and Shreveport |
