Bowie is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

Cochise County Cochise County () is a county in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is named after the Native American chief Cochise. The population was 125,447 at the 2020 census. The county seat is Bisbee and the most populous city is ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, United States. As of the 2010 U.S. Census the population of Bowie was 449.

History

The

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

built a rail line through eastern Arizona in 1880, including a stop at Bowie. Once a junction was made in March 1881 with eastern rail lines in

Deming, New Mexico Deming (, ''DEM-ing'') is a city in Luna County, New Mexico, Luna County, New Mexico, United States, west of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Las Cruces and north of the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border. The population was 14,855 as of the ...

, this line was the second transcontinental rail route across the United States.(12 March 1881)
Completion of the New Trans-Continental Route
''Pacific Rural Press'' The community is named for the former

Fort Bowie Fort Bowie was a 19th-century outpost of the United States Army located in southeastern Arizona near the present day town of Willcox, Arizona. The remaining buildings and site are now protected as Fort Bowie National Historic Site. Fort Bowi ...

.Barnes, Will C
Arizona Place Names
p. 59 (1935) ("Bowie was named of course for the old fort not far away.")

Demographics

Bowie first appeared on the 1910 U.S. Census as the "Bowie Precinct" of Cochise County. It appeared again in 1920 and 1930 as a precinct. It reported a majority White population in 1930. The population of Bowie was 650 in the 1960 census. 2010, when it was made a census-designated place (CDP).

Location and nearby communities

The community lies on

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...

in eastern

close to the western

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

border. The community is in the west of the

San Simon Valley The San Simon Valley is a broad valley east of the Chiricahua Mountains, in the northeast corner of Cochise County, Arizona and southeastern Graham County, Arizona, Graham County, with a small portion near Antelope Pass in Hidalgo County, New Mex ...

, as well as the northeast foothills of the

Dos Cabezas Mountains The Dos Cabezas Mountains are a mountain range in southeasternmost Arizona, United States. The Dos Cabezas Mountains Wilderness lies east of Willcox and south of Bowie in Cochise County. The mountain range's name means Two Heads in Spanish ...

. On Interstate 10,

Willcox, Arizona Willcox is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. The city is located in the Sulphur Springs Valley, a flat and sparsely populated drainage basin dotted with seasonal lakes. The city is surrounded by Arizona's most prominent mountain ...

at the

Willcox Playa The Willcox Playa is a large endorheic dry lake or sink (playa) adjacent to Willcox, Arizona in Cochise County, in the southeast corner of the state. It is part of the Sonoran Desert ecoregion and is the remnant of a Pleistocene era pluvial Lak ...

lies west-southwest; San Simon, AZ and Road Forks-

Lordsburg Lordsburg is a city in and the county seat of Hidalgo County, New Mexico, United States. Hidalgo County includes the southern "bootheel" of New Mexico, along the Arizona border. The population was 2,797 at the 2010 census, down from 3,379 in 20 ...

, New Mexico lie east.

Information

Bowie has the ZIP Code of 85605; in 2010, the population of the 85605 ZCTA was 449.

In popular culture

Bowie, Arizona gained attention when it was revealed that it was action icon

John Rambo John James Rambo (born July 6, 1947) is a fictional character in the ''Rambo'' franchise. He first appeared in the 1972 novel '' First Blood'' by David Morrell, but later became more famous as the protagonist of the film series, in which he was ...

's hometown. This was first unveiled in '' Rambo: First Blood Part II'' and later elaborated on in ''

Rambo III ''Rambo III'' is a 1988 American action film directed by Peter MacDonald and co-written by Sylvester Stallone, who also reprises his role as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. A sequel to '' Rambo: First Blood Part II'' (1985), it is the third in ...

''. In the film ''

Rambo Rambo is a surname with Norwegian (Vestfold) and Swedish origins. It possibly originated with '' ramn'' + '' bo'', meaning "raven's nest". It has variants in French (''Rambeau'', ''Rambaut'', and ''Rimbaud'') and German (''Rambow''). It is now best ...

'' from 2008, Bowie was seen on screen for the first time, although the filming of that particular scene was actually done in Southern California. 2019's '' Rambo: Last Blood'' took place entirely in Bowie and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, though filming was not done in Arizona.

Climate

Bowie has a borderline

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''BSk''/''BWk''/''BSh''/''BWh'') with very hot summers punctuated by monsoon rains, and mild, generally dry winters with cold nights. Typically there are 26.9 days topping and 119 days over , which only a few days with unusually heavy rain failing to top this mark during the summer. In the winter, there are typically 63.6 nights falling below freezing, with the all-time record low being on December 9, 1978 – though the dryness means only one day every three or four winters will fail to top freezing, and only 6.4 days per winter will not top . The average snowfall is , but the median is zero so that most winters do not have measurable falls, though fell in January 1978. Since 1899 the wettest calendar year has been 1914 with and the driest 1956 with , whilst the wettest month has been July 1919 with ,Western Regional Climate Center
BOWIE, ARIZONA: Period of Record General Climate Summary
/ref> and the wettest day October 30 of 1951 with .

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Cochise County, Arizona Unincorporated communities in Arizona