History:
There are 13,040 township governments in the United States. This is the story of one of them. The region, which is now known as Bath, wasn't officially owned by the government until the Treaty of Fort Industry in 1805. The first permanent settlers, Jonathan Hale and Jason Hammond came five years later, and eight years after that, in 1818, the township was officially organized.

This history behind the township's name is an interesting story in itself. The area had originally been known as simply Number 3, Range 12, of the Western Reserve, but this was superceded by Wheatfield, and then Hammondsburgh, after one of the early settlers. The question of a new name then came up at one of the town meetings; but discussion dragged on and was seemingly endless. Finally Jonathan Hale, another early settler, rose and exclaimed, "O, call it Jerusalem, Jericho, Bath, or anything but Hammondsburgh!" The motion was quickly passed and the township adopted the name of Bath, which, if nothing else, placed it first in the alphabetical listing of the county townships


The early duties of the township trustees were concerned mainly with the maintenance and upkeep of the roads, the town hall, and the cemeteries. Although the trustees were not permitted to pass ordinances, they could levy taxes for upkeep. This was the case for road taxes. The early farmers either had to pay the road tax or periodically repair the road in front of their property with their farm equipment. Other duties which the trustees occasionally performed were buying groceries for the poorer families, and giving out bonuses to war veterans. Trustees no longer have the power to perform these two services, due to state legislation. Since the early trustees had to authorize anything dealing with roads, farmers even had to obtain the permission of the trustees to graze their cows along the road. An example of this is an excerpt from the minutes of the trustees meeting held April 21, 1866. "This day the trustees granted the following permits for cattle to run at large in the highway: Benjamin Point, John C. Sallman, C. Smith, Oliver Thorp, W.A. Rozelle, and W.W. Williamson." Since the roads were, for the most part, self-maintained, and the maintenance cost of the town hall and cemeteries was low, the early appropriations were small. A comparison of the 1967 and 1867 expenditures show that in 1867 $664.56 was spent while one hundred years later, $179,000.00 was needed.

The first regular fire station in Bath was organized in 1922. The Stoney Hill Fire Department, which was operated from 1935-1965, also served Bath. The equipment of this department was bought and furnished by the volunteers. Before these fire stations were established, bucket brigades and other haphazard techniques were the only methods for fire fighting. This is the reason why few of the old mills and stores are still standing. As Bath progressed through the years, the importance of fire and police protection increased.