Bowie, Texas: Home of the World's Largest Jim Bowie Knife

On our journey up the US 287 corridor, we finally stopped in a town called Bowie, Texas. 

Bowie is in Montague county and was established in 1881 but it didn't really take off until the Fort Worth & Denver Railroad came to town the next year. By 1884, it became a market and financial center for farmers and ranchers in the area between Fort Worth and Wichita Falls.

The town was named for Jim Bowie, hero of the Alamo.

The First National Bank of Bowie was started in the early 1880s. It was in this location where the Legend Bank building is now. In 1884, it was robbed by four men. They stole $10K in gold coins, a pretty hefty sum back then. After the robbery, a posse was formed, the men were captured and were hung. Then in 1941, the bank was robbed again! This time by a guy named Rex Beard, Jr.  Known as the "paper sack bandit", he was captured and then escaped from the Montague County Jail.

There are a lot of cool old buildings in Bowie. This looks like it was an old gas station.

This is at Mason and Wise. It looks like it was something important. A hotel maybe? The railroad is at the end of the block. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any documentation.

This is Smythe Street. Between 1882 and 1907, it was full of brothels and saloons. Then in 1907, two of Bowie's marshals were shot down in cold blood by two brothers, Walker and Bob Hargrove. The people had had enough! The next day they met and demanded the removal of these businesses and within 48 hours, they were gone. That's the power of the people! The two men must have escaped because Walker Hargrove was killed in a bar fight in Fort Worth the next year. Bob lived until 1954.

At the corner of Tarrant and Mason is Matthew, Heard & Cady, an old Dry Goods store that was around in the early days of town. I read that the town was restoring the building and was going to open some kind of business here. I think it's such a shame that these cool old buildings go to waste. In a small town the size of Bowie, you'd think there would be a need for businesses in town but based on what I see, maybe not.

Here it is! World's Largest Bowie Knife! I have to tell you, it was a bit of a disappointment. It wasn't as large as I had imagined. When you think "World's Largest", you think BIG.

When shown next to a person, you can see it's bigger than a normal Bowie knife.

There are about 5K people that live in Bowie, Texas. The biggest employer is the Faith Community Health System followed by the Bowie ISD. They have a Brookshire's, which most small towns have but they also have a Walmart now. No big chain restaurants but some chain fast food places like McDonald's, Sonic and Chicken Express.

Bowie was an interesting place. There was character there. But don't take my word for it. Check it out!