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On a warm Spring morning in May of 1927 the
Treasurer of the Bath, Michigan Consolidated School District blew up half of
the school building (intending to have destroyed all of it). Within the hour
he had committed suicide (and more murders) in the middle of the village by
detonating explosives in his vehicle. In all, 45 people would be dead &
many more would be injured in the worst instance of school violence in U.S.
history.
| Recent News ... |
| Second grade bombing survivor Ruth Adeline (Nickols Hetchler) Stambaugh
died Wednesday February 24th, 2010 in Hastings, Michigan. Ruth's sister
Emma died in the explosion. She had lived for many
years in Sunfield. She was the last of the 12 brothers and sisters in the
family. Her funeral was held Monday March 1st in Lansing with interment in
Bath's Pleasant Hill Cemetery. |
| In recent correspondence with Arnie
Bernstein we have learned that 2nd grader Ralph Witchell is now living in
Nebraska. Ralph's sister Lucile June Witchell and
cousin Elizabeth Jane Witchell died in the bombing.
Arnie will be in Michigan for a number of events this Spring; they are:
- Saturday March 13th, 11:00 am - Flushing Library
120 N. Maple St., Flushing
- Saturday March 13th, 2:30 pm - Winegarden Library
200 E. Caroline St., Fenton
- Saturday April 17th - the Michigan Notable Books author's awards dinner
($25 in advance) - Lansing
- Friday May 14th, afternoon - in Bath
location to be announced - sponsored by the Dewitt Library
- Friday May 14th, 7:00 pm - Owosso Library
502 W. Main St, Owosso
- Saturday May 15th, 3:00 pm - the Carson City Library
102 W. Main St., Carson City
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Listed below are links to pages in this and
other websites that deal with the events & aftermath of that day's
tragedy.
- The Victims
- Brief individual biographies, their burial location & available photographs.
- Those who survived the event
- A list on individuals: survivors, siblings, adult family members, rescuers, townsfolk & others.
- Survivors that are Still Alive Today
- A list on individuals, survivors or siblings of survivors, that are still living.
- The Coroner's Inquest
- The transcript of the May 23-25, 1927 Clinton County Coroner's Inquest. 768Kb
- 1896 Maps of Clinton County & Bath Township
- The Bath School Disaster Memorial Park
- Images from the park at the site of the former Consolidated School building.
- Books About the Bombing
- "The Bath School Disaster"
A contemporary account of the bombing and the events leading up to it,
written by Bath resident Monty Ellsworth. It is available in four formats:
- Lynx version (no formatting) 127Kb
- Text Only (2 frames; formatted; no pictures) 200Kb
- Full Book (2 frames; formatted; text & pictures as they appear in the book) 2.6Mb
- Modem Friendly (4 frames; formatted; text & pictures available on demand)
Links to related materials & websites
- Individuals
- Ronald Bauerle — victim family descendant
website: freepages.history.rootsweb.com/.../disaster.htm
message board: resources.rootsweb.com/...
- Arnie Bernstein — author
A non-fiction account of the Bath School Disaster by author Arnie
Bernstein is now available. The title is Bath Massacre: America's First
School Bombing. Pricing: $18.95 (paper binding); $50.00 (cloth binding). |
- Betty Spencer — author
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In early 2008 Mt. Pleasant author Betty Spencer published her book Life Is
Fragile: One Girl's Story of the Bath School Disaster. It is a
fictionalized account of what life would have been like for a pre-teen farm
girl living outside of the Village of Bath and attending the township's
Consolidated School.
The book may be ordered online at Amazon.com
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- Gene Wilkins — Township historian
E-mail: bathtwphistory@aol.com
- Library Resources
- Dewitt Public Library, Local History Collection - available books
... The Bath School Disaster (1927; Monty Ellsworth)
... Mayday: The History of a Village Holocaust (1980; Grant Parker)
website: www.dewittlibrary.com/LHC/LHC-Clinton.htm
- area cemetery records
website: www.dewittlibrary.com/cemetery/Cemetery.htm
- Michigan State University, Special Collections - available books
... The Bath School Disaster (1927; Monty Ellsworth)
... Mayday: The History of a Village Holocaust (1980; Grant Parker)
... My Scrapbook on the Bath School Bombing (2002; Gene Wilkins)
website: www.lib.msu.edu/coll/main/spec_col/about/index.htm
- Newspapers
- "Ojai Valley News" (S. California newspaper)
online obituary of George Carpenter
- Other Internet Resources
- Wikipedia: online article
- Story Corps: Interview with Willis Cressman & niece Johanna Cushman-Balzer
- NPR: Morning Edition feature (April 17, 2009)
- Businesses & Organizations
- Sources of books about the bombing
... The Bath School Disaster (1927; Monty Ellsworth)
... Mayday: The History of a Village Holocaust (1980; Grant Parker)
...other out-of-print books on the Bath School Disaster
- Local Churches
- Schools & Local Government
- Bath Community Schools
website: www.bath.k12.mi.us
- Bath Charter Township
website: www.bathtownship.us
This site is a featured link of MeL —
the Michigan eLibrary,
an ongoing project of the Library of Michigan.
& the Michigan Library Consortium.
We are referenced in the "Librarian Recommended Websites > Best of the Web
> History > General History Resources" section
This website is a personal endeavor. The content herein is solely the responsibility of the site creator.
Research assistance for this website provided by
Gene Wilkins,
Ronald Bauerle,
James Hixson,
David Votta,
Arnie Bernstein,
the United States Social Security Death Master Index,
Monty Ellsworth's Bath School Disaster,
Harold Burnett's History of Bath Charter Township,
Grant Parker's Mayday
and the staffs of:
The Michigan State University Library,
the Capital Area District Library,
the Library of Michigan,
the Dewitt Public Library,
the Chesaning City Library,
the Bath Township Clerk's office,
the Meridian Township Clerk's office,
the Perry Township Clerk's office,
the Carson City Clerk's office,
the Clinton County Clerk's office,
the City of Lansing Mount Hope Cemetery,
Emanuel Lutheran Church - Lansing,
the Estes-Leadley Lansing Funeral Chapel,
the Gorsline-Runciman Williamston Chapel,
Mount Hope Monument Company,
the Lansing State Journal &
the Bath Schools Historical Museum.
Most of all we would like to thank all of the families of Bath who over the
years have shared their stories and photographs with the many individuals that
have gone before us in documenting the events surrounding the bombings in
Bath, Michigan on the 18th of May, 1927.
All color photography found within this website ©Copyright 2001-2010 J.L. Daggy, All rights are reserved.
Digitized document conversion/formatting also ©Copyright 2001-2010 J.L. Daggy, All rights are reserved.
Book cover art & designs are ©Copyright 1978, 1980, 2002, 2007, 2008 & 2009 by their respective publishers.
Questions or Comments may be directed to comments@bathschooldisaster.info
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