Photo: Mark Wallheiser / Getty Images
In 1970, Bath was a rural town of 300 people, the local institute of learning was the Consolidated School, had 314 students from all over the region, many sons and daughters of farmers.
The 18 May was the last day of school for the students of that year, because at 8: 45 The north wing of the three-story structure exploded with such force that the roar could be heard for miles.
As community members scrambled to help after the blast, gathering ropes to lift the collapsed roof and pull students and teachers out of the rubble, a member of the school board named Andrew Kehoe drove up to the place.
Kehoe got out of his truck full of dynamite and shrapnel, he aimed his rifle and fired. The explosion that followed killed the school superintendent, several bystanders and Kehoe himself.
In addition to the hundreds of pounds of explosives that caused the destruction of the school, fire department personnel and police officers found other 500 pounds of unexploded pyrotol dynamite around the school basement, along with a container of gasoline that may have been placed there to start a fire if the dynamite failed.
Kehoe also burned down his farm and killed his wife and two horses; their bodies were discovered on the farm, along with a sign attached to the fence of the property that said: “Criminals are made, not born.”
Before the massacre, Kehoe had been a member of the community. He lived with his wife, Nellie, on a farm and was treasurer of the Bath school board. The former electrician had a large stock of explosives (surplus from World War I) bought from the government that he used to help farmers remove tree stumps.
There were several unusual incidents before the bombing: Kehoe killed his neighbor’s dog, beat one of his horses to death, and argued with school board members about the cost of continued taxes for the consolidated school, but never has it been more alarming that other villagers had any suspicion of what was coming.
In the end they died 44 persons, 38 of them students. It was not the first bombing in the history of the country: at least eight died during the Haymarket Square rally in Chicago in 1200, Y 30 when a bomb exploded in Manhattan in 1920, but none had been as deadly as this, or affected so many children .
The newspapers were quick to make sense of the tragedy. They called Kehoe crazy, insane, crazy. Although at that time there was little understanding of mental illness, the media still tried to find the reasons for the attack.
Immediately after the bombing, the community was inundated with well wishes and donations, as well as harassing tourists. While funerals were held in houses around Bath over the weekend, some 50 . people crossed the city by car, what which caused massive traffic jams.
Although almost as quickly as the media frenzy built up, it abruptly ceased, in part due to the success of Charles Lindbergh’s first non-stop transatlantic flight two days after the bombing; combined with a lack of real media, the Bath bombing quickly disappeared from the news cycle.
Within a year, the school had been repaired and classes moved from local stores to the school. The school remained in place until the 1970 decade, when it was demolished and replaced by a memorial park.
In the center of the park is the dome of the school, exactly where it would have been in the school. For Bernstein, it is a place of calm and peace, a fitting tribute to the students and community members who passed away.
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