On March 18, 1937, a massive explosion destroyed the New London Junior-Senior High School, instantly killing an estimated 296 students and teachers. Subsequent deaths from injuries sustained that day brought the final death count to 311. The explosion was blamed on a natural gas leak beneath the school building. Within weeks of the disaster, the Texas Legislature passed a law requiring an odor to be added to natural gas, which previously was odorless and therefore undetectable.