Bath, Michigan

Coordinates: 42°49′12″N 84°27′16″W / 42.82000°N 84.45444°W / 42.82000; -84.45444
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bath, Michigan
Location within Clinton County
Location within Clinton County
Bath is located in Michigan
Bath
Bath
Location within the state of Michigan
Bath is located in the United States
Bath
Bath
Location within the United States
Coordinates: 42°49′12″N 84°27′16″W / 42.82000°N 84.45444°W / 42.82000; -84.45444[1]
CountryUnited States
StateMichigan
CountyClinton
TownshipBath
Platted1864
Area
 • Total6.06 sq mi (15.69 km2)
 • Land5.86 sq mi (15.18 km2)
 • Water0.20 sq mi (0.52 km2)
Elevation824 ft (251 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total2,841
 • Density484.81/sq mi (187.17/km2)
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP code(s)
48808
Area code517
FIPS code26-05880[3]
GNIS feature ID2583717[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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

Historical population
CensusPop.Note
20202,841
U.S. Decennial Census[7]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b "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[edit]

  • 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[edit]