During a time when many Americans found themselves in the throes of a hardscrabble Depression-era existence, the discovery of oil in 1930 brought people to East Texas in record numbers. Almost overnight, the London School District began a transformation, the result of boomtown prosperity.

Brought by oil wealth, the school district would enjoy a bountiful time until a tragic explosion in 1937 at the district's new high school ripped through the building to claim an estimated 280-plus students, 15 teachers, two visitors and a school secretary.

Click the image above for an audio slideshow in the survivors own words. Click the image above to see a video on London history. Click the image above for more photos. MORE NEW LONDON STORIES: Cenotaph honors those killed in school explosion  London Museum houses items from tragic day  Cemetery home to 129 killed in blast  Through their eyes: Four survivors discuss how the New London explosion changed them forever  During oil boom, before explosion, the school was the PRIDE of New London  Reporters converge on New London  Odor now added to natural gas  Community gathers to honor those who died in school explosion and those who lived  Faces, forever changed: School blast survivors still unable to talk about those they lost  Remembrances roll as London School graduates gather  Silence was normal for many survivors  A shared pain: London School graduates gather to mark blast's 70th anniversary  Explosion survivor's faith still strong after tragedy

"Oh, before the explosion, that school was something to see, they had plenty of money to spend, and they spent it" said Charles Dial, an 83-year-old survivor from Houston who was in the sixth grade at the time of the explosion.

For many years, it was the richest rural school in the world, and one of the most envied, said John Davidson, docent at the London Museum and Tea Room.

The elementary school had its own rhythm band complete with uniforms, and the football field was the first in the nation to be lighted, Davidson said.

Oil wealth provided free uniforms and instruments for the high school band, as well as uniforms for the school's pep squad.

A gymnasium, auditorium and 10 other school buildings and playing fields were surrounded by derricks, pipelines and temporary camps, according to The New London Museum's Web site.

Roofed in red-tile, the brick high school housed 650 to 700 fifth- through ninth-grade students.

By 1937, the London School campus was a showplace, funded by $20 million in oil wealth taxable value flowing freely along the 100-square-mile district.

Dorothy Box, 84, of Henderson well remembers the years she attended London schools.

"The school was so nice. We had a big, roomy auditorium, a science lab with all kinds of equipment and a homemaking cottage with everything in it — all kinds of things available for first class kitchens at the time," Box said.

Boys could take shop class, where any type of tool they needed was available, she said.

As the oil poured from the East Texas field, exploration companies moved in to the area. With them came jobs —and people that would change the fabric of the city.

"New London became a transient city with people coming in and out every day," Davidson said. "In 1931, Humble moved its headquarters to New London, and the number of employees grew to 750 by 1934."

Davidson said the camp provided 25 homes for families, had a recreation home with cooking and canning facilities, a mess hall and five bunk houses.

Other oil companies soon came to Texas to drill in the vast oil field.

"There was Tidewater, Gulf, Phillips, Ohio, Texas, Standard, H.L. Hunt and J. Paul Getty. All had operations in East Texas," Davidson said.

Dial said he could still remember how proud the students were of their campus during a time when the rest of the nation was caught up in the Depression.

"I loved every day of school. I never missed a day, and loved to learn and be with the kids," Dial said.

According to the school's 1936 yearbook, the 21-room high school boasted a science laboratory, home economics, laboratory, shop and such other well-equipped rooms that would qualify it as a Class A school.

The school sponsored athletics and had an award-winning band — an activity that Dial participated in.

Dial was a student in the band who played the french horn.

"We took pride in our band and had a wonderful band. We played at concerts, at the football game, went to competition and won a lot of awards," he said.

Though many students brought sack lunches or ate the cafeteria food, Dial and his brothers would drive home for lunch every day to save money.

"It was in the middle of the Depression. There were plenty of oilfield jobs, but they still did not pay much of a wage, so for some families money was real tight," Dial said.

Some students had enough money to splurge for refreshments.

"Down at the bottom of the football field was a little cafe called Alf's. They sold soft drinks, moon pies, hamburgers. Kids could eat there for about 25 cents," Dial said.

Though just 10-years-old, Dial said he and his older brother took turns driving an old wrecked car to school, while other children rode the bus.

"It was not unusual for a kid to drive a car to school, and there were a few of us as young as 10 who did, but most of the students rode the bus to school," he said.

While the school had an expansive library, Dial said most of the boys were too busy running around to spend much time there.

"We was playing football and chasing girls. I chased them all and loved them all," he said.

Maxine Kelley Lawson, 82, of Caldwell, was one of Dial's sixth-grade classmates. Like most of the students enrolled, it was the lucrative oilfield that brought her family to the London school district.

"I was new that year. My family had just moved from Breckenridge, and I remember thinking how nice the school was. It was one of the best around, and we all knew that," Lawson said.

Like most of the girls in her elementary school class, Lawson wore simple print dresses with her straight hair pulled back.

Billy Dale, 78, travelled from his home in Connecticut to attend this weekend's reunion. During his time in New London, Dale lived with his family in the Humble Oil Co. camp and attended classes at London School.

Like most boys, he wore blue denim overalls to class, but no blue jeans.

He was only 8 years old at the time of the explosion, but remembers the city bustling with activity when the rest of the nation was in the midst of the Depression.

"I know there was a depression. I could hear grown folks talking about it, but the people I knew seemed to drive cars and have plenty to eat," he said. "Our school was nice, one of the best around."

Still ranking as the third-worst disaster of the 20th century in Texas, the explosion signalled the end of a prolific seven-year period the district had enjoyed since oil was first discovered in Rusk County in 1930.

A new state-of-the-art high school was constructed at a cost of $300,000 in 1932, and in 1935, a new elementary school was added.