Bath School disaster

The Bath School disaster was a series of violent attacks perpetrated by Andrew Kehoe upon the Bath Consolidated School in Bath Township, Michigan, United States, on May 18, 1927. That morning, Kehoe, the school treasurer of Bath Township, detonated explosives he had previously planted underneath the school building, killing 38 people. As rescue efforts began, Kehoe drove to the school in a truck he filled with shrapnel and explosives and detonated it, killing himself and four other people. Earlier the same day, he had also destroyed his farmstead with explosives after having murdered his wife, Nellie Price Kehoe.

Kehoe, who was Bath's school board treasurer, was angered by increased taxes and being defeated in the April 5, 1926 election for Bath township clerk. It was thought by locals that he had planned revenge following his defeat. Kehoe had a reputation as a difficult man, both on the school board and in his personal life. In addition, he was notified in June 1926 that his mortgage was soon to be foreclosed. For much of the next year, Kehoe purchased explosives and secretly hid them on his property and under the school.

During the rescue and recovery efforts, searchers discovered a further 500 pounds (230 kg) of explosives under the south wing of the school that had been set to detonate simultaneously with the initial explosion. With this discovery, it was determined that Kehoe's intention was to destroy the entire school and everyone in it.