old photos of bowie

bowie post office in the 1950s

geronimo and his last band of chiricahua apaches on their way to florida.

the famous track-side photo was taken by photographer a.j. mcdonald on sept. 10, 1886, near the nueces river in texas. (http://arizonahistoricalsociety.org) the band of apaches were taken from fort bowie to bowie station and loaded on the train bound for florida, sept. 8, 1866. geronimo and naiche, son of cochise, are in the front row, 3rd and 4th from the right.

global volunteers and their millennium service project renovate an old school building in 1999.

the one room school building was used as a kindergarten as early as 1928, and as a classroom as late as 1980.

arizona marble camp near bowie

the marble for the floors of the bowie methodist church came from this marble quarry.

bowie train depot in the 1980s

bowie train depot, approximately 1924

the southern pacific railroad arrived in bowie in 1880. captain james h. tevis returned to the area in 1880. he had worked for several years in the 1850s in apache pass as the station agent. he sent for his family and founded the town, then called teviston.

in 1881 the superintendent of the railroad, mr. bean, wanted to name the railroad station bean city. it is reported that captain tevis said "we have beans three times a day every day. we are tired of even the name bean. what is the matter with the same name as the post office, teviston?" mr. bean in anger replied "then i'll call it bowie station, after fort bowie." both names were used until 1910, at which time the town was named bowie.

scott's service station in late 1930s

bowie market, bowie drug co., bank of bowie, post office, 1920s

laundramat, tom's corral, movie house in 1960s

fort bowie, approximately 1893

construction on the first fort bowie began in 1862 but this resembled more of a temporary camp than a permanent military fort. in 1868, a second, more substantial fort bowie was built on a plateau about 300 yards (270 m) to the southeast. the fort was abandoned in 1894. (wikipedia)

for more than 30 years fort bowie and apache pass were the focal point of military operations eventually culminating in the surrender of geronimo in 1886 and the banishment of the chiricahuas to florida and alabama. it was the site of the bascom affair, a wagon train massacre, and the battle of apache pass, where a large force of chiricahua apaches under mangus colorados and cochise fought the california volunteers. (http://www.nps.gov/fobo/)

a few notes on the old bowie jail, by bill hoy april 1995, ranger and interpreter at the fort bowie national historic site (now retired)

for many years bowie's two long abandoned jails have become structures of curiosity and misty, hearsay tales, most being more fiction than fact. none of bowie's old timers know the jail's origins. one san simon patriarch recalls that their jail was present in 1905 and was identical in design to that of bowie.

in light of the 1880 establishment of bowie, we presume that either the 2x4 wooden jail (that burned some years back) and the existing concrete jail, were likely bowie's first jails. the myth that geronimo, upon his surrender to the u.s. army in 1886, was kept overnight in one of these jails, is just that, a myth.

another tale recalls that the iron ring encased in the cement jail's floor served to allow the inmates to be bound to the ring. this allowed the door to be open, providing a few rays of sunshine inside the jail cell. another misty story says that a prisoner once froze to death. such stories, retold over decades and generations, take on uncertain conclusions and often they are all we have left.