New London

New London is on State Highway 42 twelve miles south of Kilgore and 122 miles southeast of Dallas in Rusk County. As a result of the westward expansion of the southern frontier, a post office, called London, was started here in 1855. With some interruptions it served the area until 1876. The next year a school, now named West Rusk, was established in London. From 1855 to 1930 London depended upon agriculture. Farmers grew principally cotton and corn and supplemented their income with watermelons, peaches, and tomatoes. They shipped these products from the community depot, known as Norfolk, on the Henderson and Overton Branch Railroad, a spur of the International-Great Northern.

In 1930 Columbus M. (Dad) Joiner drilled the first well in the East Texas oilfield a few miles from the community, making it a boomtown. Residents built a modern school, churches, and homes. A new post office was established there in 1931. When community residents found that a London post office had already been established in Kimble County, they used the name New London. In 1931 Humble Oil and Refining Company moved 100 families from the Corsicana oilfield and their district headquarters to New London. Refineries were constructed. Oil companies provided jobs, housing, electricity, and free gas and water; they also built parks and community buildings. Nothing remained unchanged, and many landowners became wealthy. The London school expanded and consolidated with smaller schools. On March 18, 1937, however, the school exploded, in the worst school disaster in United States history (see NEW LONDON SCHOOL EXPLOSION). Within a year the facilities had been rebuilt. New London continued to boom until World War II.