Bath, Michigan

Bath, Michigan
Census-designated place (CDP) & unincorporated community
Location within Clinton County
Bath Location within the state of Michigan Show map of Michigan Bath Location within the United States Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 42°49′12″N84°27′16″W / 42.82000°N 84.45444°W / 42.82000; -84.45444 [1]
Country	United States
State	Michigan
County	Clinton
Township	Bath
Platted	1864
Area [2]
• Total	6.06 sq mi (15.69 km2)
• Land	5.86 sq mi (15.18 km2)
• Water	0.20 sq mi (0.52 km2)
Elevation [1]	824 ft (251 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	2,841
• Density	484.81/sq mi (187.17/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP code(s)	48808
Area code	517
FIPS code	26-05880 [3]
GNIS feature ID	2583717 [1]

Bath is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Clinton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in Bath Charter Township. As of the 2010 census, the CDP had a population of 2,083. ^[4]

History

Bath was platted in 1864. ^[5]

The community of Bath was listed as a newly-organized census-designated place for the 2010 census, meaning it now has officially defined boundaries and population statistics for the first time. ^[6]

American supercentenarian Irene Dunham was born in Bath.

Bath School disaster

Main article: Bath School disaster

On May 18, 1927, in what became known as the Bath School disaster, Andrew Kehoe, a farmer and local school board member angry over losing an election for town clerk and under notice for foreclosure, killed his wife, detonated bombs in his house and farm buildings, and at the same time set off a bomb in the consolidated school. He drove to the school in a truck rigged with more explosives, which he detonated next to the school superintendent. In all, Kehoe killed 44 people, 38 of them children, and himself, in the worst school mass murder in U.S. history. Only half of the 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of explosives set under the school went off, probably greatly lowering the death toll. Thirty-eight of the 314 students, three teachers, the superintendent, the postmaster, and a local farmer assisting at the scene were killed. Most of the deceased were students from second to sixth grade. Fifty-eight others were injured.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 5.94 square miles (15.38 km²), of which 5.74 square miles (14.87 km²) is land and 0.20 square miles (0.52 km²) (3.37%) is water. ^[4]

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
2020	2,841		—
U.S. Decennial Census [7]

See also

• Bath Community Schools, which serves Bath and surrounding areas

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Bath, Michigan
2. "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
3. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved January 31, 2008.
4. "Michigan: 2010 Population and Housing Unit Counts 2010 Census of Population and Housing" (PDF). 2010 United States Census . United States Census Bureau. September 2012. p. 19 Michigan. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
5. Romig 1986, p. 46.
6. "Michigan: 2010 Population and Housing Unit Counts 2010 Census of Population and Housing" (PDF). 2010 United States Census . United States Census Bureau. September 2012. p. III-5. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
7. "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2016.

Sources

• Romig, Walter (October 1, 1986) [1973]. Michigan Place Names: The History of the Founding and the Naming of More Than Five Thousand Past and Present Michigan Communities (Paperback). Great Lakes Books Series. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. ISBN   978-0814318386.

Further reading

• Wilkins, Gene H.; Ellsworth, Monty J. (2002). My Scrapbook on the Bath School Bombing of May 18th, 1927 with Many Never Before Published Photographs, Stories & Survivors' Quotes. Bath, MI: Timber Wolf. OCLC   50074882. Online transcription of the first edition.