Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Bow

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Bow

39% of Bow’s homes were built before 1940

0on the National Register
39%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Bow’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Bow are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Bow’s homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bow’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bow’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Bow came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bow.

Read it all →

Bow was originally known as Brownsville, after William J. Brown, who homesteaded the townsite in 1869. The advent of the railroad resulted in a population boom and the need for a post office. Apparently inspired by the growth brought by the railroad, Brown suggested the new name of Bow, after the large railway station in London, England, which in turn was named for the bow or poplar tree. Although this is the most common belief, there are some who believe it was named after homesteader James T. Bow.

An alternate story claims that the settlement is named for a Norwegian immigrant family that settled in that area in the 1890s. Their last name was Boe.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
Famous people

2 famous people were born in Bow

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
J
Joe DawsonAmerican baseball player · b. 1897
K
Krissy MoehlAmerican ultramarathon runner · b. 1977
Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Edison Station
1cemetery inside Bow
Bow

Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

EdisonIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Bow’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.