unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
Central Texas
Central Texas is a region in the U.S. state of Texas roughly bordered on the west by San Saba, to the southeast by Bryan- College Station, the south by San Marcos and to the north by Hillsboro. Central Texas overlaps with and includes part ...
. According to the
Handbook of Texas
The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...
, the community had a population of 20 in 2000.
History
The community was established in the 1870s near a bend on the
Colorado River
The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...
and named Bowser Bend. The community was based around the farm of Mr. Sim Witted and the local ford of Colorado was called Whitted Crossing. They had a Farmer Alliance store, a schoolhouse, a church, a post office, and even a cotton gin, but as buildings were frequently destroyed by flooding, starting in the late 1880s when the schoolhouse burned, new buildings were erected on higher ground about a mile and a half south of Bowser Bend, with the new elevation at 1312 ft. A new post office opened there in 1892 and operated until 1921, when the mail came out of the Mercury post office, some eight miles to the west.
Martin Gin opened in Bowser in 1891 and was there for approximately 50 years. Its population was 100 in 1896 and was supported by a
cotton gin
A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...
, a
gristmill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...
, and three churches. It lost three-quarters of its population in the early 1930s and had two businesses. The population rebounded to 50 in the late 1940s. The local church continued to operate in 1983. The population declined to 20 by 2000.
With the advent of well-paved roads, the population shrank. By the 1980s, Bowser was mostly a ghost town, with only two abandoned residences and the old schoolhouse still standing, but the Methodist church was still in use. The Church of Christ church, the Baptist church, and the Holiness tabernacle had all been torn down. However, beginning in the 1990s and following, people seeking rural locations moved into the area.
Geography
Today, Bowser lies near the intersection of Farm Roads 45 and 765, approximately nine miles north of Richland Springs.
Education
Bowser had a school in 1896. Today, the community is served by the
Richland Springs Independent School District
Richland Springs Independent School District is a public school district based in Richland Springs, Texas ( USA).
The district has one school, Richland Springs School that serves students in grades kindergarten through twelve.
Academic ach ...