More historic than 27% of U.S. towns · #273 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Bowie was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1973. Below: maps from 1885 on and the census since 1890.
Founding year: the first Bowie post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Bowie’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bowie is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns, #273 of 642 in Texas. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bowie’s overall grade.
Few Texas towns list much on the Register (a typical Texas town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bowie’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (34% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Bowie’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1885Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
On the map
Bowie on the map, 1905 to 1991
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bowie. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1905Montague sheet · 1:125,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bowie.
On July 22, 1881, Bowie was incorporated as a town in Montague County, Texas, United States. (A separate Bowie County includes Texarkana in northeastern Texas.) The town began to expand with the arrival of the Fort Worth and Denver Railway in 1882. In 1884, four men robbed the First National Bank of Bowie and allegedly left with over $10,000 in gold coins. Townspeople gave chase and eventually captured the robbers, who were hanged for their crimes. By 1913, the town had a population of more than 5,000, and included the Bowie Commercial College.
Bowie is the largest town in the county. The postoffice receipts at this place for the past five years, 1907-1912, are as follows : 1907 $8,414.35 1908 $8,779.91 1909 9,425.92 1910 9,933.84 1911 9,175.22 Money orders issued (Domestic). International 1907 $5,603 16
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Between 1,486 and 5,610 people in every census since 1890.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bowie’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Bowie’s history
What year was Bowie founded?
The Bowie post office opened in 1882, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Bowie rank for history?
Bowie is more historic than 27% of U.S. towns, #273 of 642 in Texas. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Bowie?
7% of Bowie’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.7 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1973.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (12), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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