Bath Township, Michigan
| Bath Charter Township | |
|---|---|
| Charter township | |
 Bath Charter Township
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| Coordinates: 42°48′21″N 84°25′06″W / 42.80583°N 84.41833°WCoordinates: 42°48′21″N 84°25′06″W / 42.80583°N 84.41833°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Michigan |
| County | Clinton |
| Settled | 1836 |
| Organized | 1839 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Supervisor-Board of Trustees |
| • Supervisor | Paula Clark |
| • Superintendent | Dan Wietecha |
| Area | |
| • Total | 35.0 sq mi (91 km2) |
| • Land | 31.8 sq mi (82 km2) |
| • Water | 3.2 sq mi (8 km2) |
| Elevation | 856 ft (261 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 11,598 |
| • Density | 331.0/sq mi (127.8/km2) |
| Time zone | EST (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 48808 |
| Area code(s) | 517 |
| FIPS code | 26-05900 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1625889 |
| Website | http://www.bathtownship.us/ |
Bath Charter Township is a charter township of Clinton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the township population was 11,598, an increase from 7,541 in 2000. It is situated directly north of the city of East Lansing.
Bath Township was originally organized in 1839 as Ossowa Township, having been split off from DeWitt Township by an act of the governor. It was renamed Bath Township in 1843 after Bath, New York.
Park Lake at the southern edge of the township was the source of the Park Lake Trail, an important Native American trailway that intersected the Okemah Trail in what later became the city of East Lansing, Michigan. Park Lake developed into a regional recreation destination for the growing Lansing, Michigan population after the Michigan State Capital was relocated to Lansing in 1847 and the Michigan Agricultural College was established in East Lansing, Michigan in 1855. By the early 1900s Park Lake was surrounded by summer camps affiliated with various churches and associations as well as seasonal cabins and lodges. The most ambitious of these was the Park Lake Resort which featured a large dance pavilion built over the water on pilings. The Park Lake Dance Pavilion served as an entertainment venue playing host to many famous acts such as Tommy Dorsey until it burned down in the 1930s. Years of decline followed and Park Lake never regained its former regional popularity.
Bath Township was the scene of the Bath School disaster, which is the deadliest act of mass murder in a school in United States history. It claimed more than three times as many victims as the Columbine High School massacre, half-again as many victims as the Virginia Tech and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. It was the worst act of domestic terrorism in the United States until the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
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