Vickki Dozier

Lansing State Journal

BATH TOWNSHIP — Today marks the 89th anniversary of the deadliest act of mass murder in a school in U.S. history. On May 18, 1927, an explosion ripped through the north wing of the Bath Consolidated School building just off Main Street.

Andrew P. Kehoe, a local farmer and school board member, who was also the school's caretaker, had placed more than 1,000 pounds of dynamite in the school building over a period of months, setting a timer so it would explode when classes were in session. The resulting blast killed more than three dozen children and teachers.

Kehoe had been angry about property taxes used to fund a new school. He blamed the tax for his financial hardships and the fact that he had fallen into foreclosure on his farm.

After the explosion, Kehoe drove up and detonated explosives in his truck, killing himself, the school superintendent, the postmaster and his father-in-law and a child nearby who had survived the original blast.

Before blowing up the school, Kehoe had killed his wife, Nellie, and set off various devices that caused his house and other farm buildings to burn.

According to the Lansing State Journal's May 18, 1927, front page, Lansing's relief forces rallied following news of the disaster at Bath. Doctors, nurses and ambulances were rushed to the stricken town, a fire company was sent to the scene and the entire factory police force of the Olds Motor Works set out for the town.The frantic call for help received at the Lansing fire department station brought immediate response from chief Delta who put Assistant Paul Letke in charge of a chemical unit and the apparatus was in the little town within 12 minutes after the call. Immediately after another unit, consisting of the telegraph and telephone division's apparatus, was shot out the Bath road to assist in clearing away the ruins.

The tragedy took 45 lives, 38 of them children, and injured 58 others, according to the Bath School Museum.

James J. Couzens, a Michigan U.S. senator, donated $75,000 to rebuild the school at the site, which was renamed James Couzens Agricultural School and razed in 1975.

In 1975, a memorial park was developed at the site of the demolished north wing building.

The massacre is memorialized in a display case in the Bath School Museum located inside the middle school. There also is a statue, "Girl with a Cat," paid for with pennies from schoolchildren across the state.

A plaque containing the names of those who died, a cupola that stood atop the school and a state historical marker, all located in the the Bath Consolidated School Memorial Park/James Couzens Agricultural School Memorial Park on the former school site, all help ensure the event won't be forgotten.

Contact Vickki Dozier at 517-267-1342 or vdozier@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @vickkiD.