Editing Bowie, Maryland (section)

==History==

===19th century===
The city of Bowie owes its existence to the railway. In 1853, Colonel [[William Duckett Bowie]] obtained a charter from the [[Maryland General Assembly|Maryland legislature]] to construct a rail line into Southern Maryland. In 1869, the [[Baltimore & Potomac Railroad|Baltimore & Potomac Railroad Company]] began the construction of a railroad from Baltimore to Southern Maryland, terminating in [[Popes Creek, Maryland|Pope's Creek]]. The area had already been dotted with small farms and large tobacco plantations in an economy based on agriculture and slavery. In 1870, Ben Plumb, a land speculator and developer, sold building lots around the railroad junction and named the settlement Huntington City. By 1872, the line was completed, together with a "spur" to Washington, D.C., and the entire line through Southern Maryland was completed in 1873.

In 1880, Huntington City was rechartered as Bowie, named for Colonel Bowie's son and business partner [[Oden Bowie]],<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.cityofbowie.org/business/revitalization.asp
|title=Revitalization of Old Town Bowie
|publisher=City of Bowie, Maryland
|access-date=2007-10-02
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070720142757/http://www.cityofbowie.org/business/revitalization.asp
|archive-date=2007-07-20
}}</ref><ref name=hall>
{{cite web
  | title =The Prince George's Hall of Fame
  | publisher =Prince George's County Historical Society
  | year =2003
  | url =http://www.pghistory.org/HallofFame
  | access-date =2007-08-16
  | url-status =dead
  | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070924204547/http://www.pghistory.org/HallofFame
  | archive-date =2007-09-24
  }}
</ref><ref name=pg300>{{cite web
|url=http://www.pghistory.org/PG/PG300/obowie.html
|title=Prince George's County: Over 300 years of History&nbsp;– Oden Bowie
| publisher =Prince George's County Historical Society
|year=1996
|access-date= 2007-10-02}}</ref><ref name=penn>
{{cite book
  | last =Wilson
  | first =William Bender
  | title =History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company: With Plan of Organization
  | url =https://archive.org/details/historypennsylv03wilsgoog
  | publisher =Henry T. Coates & Company
  | year = 1895
  | page =[https://archive.org/details/historypennsylv03wilsgoog/page/n433 279]
 }}</ref> the former [[Governor of Maryland]]<ref name=nga>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=193e224971c81010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD
|title=Governor's Information: Maryland Governor Oden Bowie
|publisher=National Governors Association
|access-date=2007-10-02
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207180536/http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=193e224971c81010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD
|archive-date=2009-02-07
}}</ref> and then-president of the [[Baltimore & Potomac Railroad]].<ref name=penn2>
{{cite book
  | last =Wilson
  | first =William Bender
  | title =History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company: With Plan of Organization
  | url =https://archive.org/details/historypennsylv02wilsgoog
  | publisher =Henry T. Coates & Company
  | year = 1895
  | pages =[https://archive.org/details/historypennsylv02wilsgoog/page/n424 333]–334
 }}</ref> In the early days the land was subdivided by developers into more than 500 residential building lots, to create a large town site at a junction of the Baltimore and Potomac's main line to southern Maryland, and the branch line to Washington, D.C.

===20th century===
{{more citations needed section|date=January 2013}}
By 1902, the Baltimore & Potomac was purchased by the powerful [[Pennsylvania Railroad]]. A second railroad entered the community when the [[Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway]] electric trolley line commenced service in 1908. The large interurban cars brought rapid transit to the area, with trains running hourly. Bowie area stations included High Bridge, Hillmeade, and the Race Track.

The convergence of the two rail systems induced the Southern Maryland Agricultural Society to build the [[Bowie Race Track]] in 1914. The track enabled the [[Belair Stud]] to become one of Maryland's premier areas for [[thoroughbreds]]. Also in 1914, a teacher-training college, or [[normal school]] as it was referred to then, was built for African-Americans, just outside the town. This now has become [[Bowie State University]].  The town of Bowie was incorporated in 1916.

====Belair at Bowie====
In 1957, the firm of [[William Levitt|Levitt and Sons]] acquired the nearby Belair Estate, the original colonial plantation of the [[Province of Maryland|Provincial Governor of Maryland]], [[Samuel Ogle]], and developed the residential community of Belair at Bowie. Two years later the town of Bowie annexed the Levitt properties and then re-incorporated the now-larger area as a city in 1963. The overwhelming majority of Bowie residents today live in this 1960s Levitt planned community, whose street names are arranged in alliterative sections.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jacobs |first1=James A. |title=Belair at Bowie |url=http://sah-archipedia.org/detail%2Fcontent%2Fentries%2FMD-01-033-0004.xml?q=%28section%3AMD-01%29%20AND%20city%3ABowie |website=[[Society of Architectural Historians]] Archipedia |publisher=[[University of Virginia Press]] |access-date=28 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829072201/http://sah-archipedia.org/detail%2Fcontent%2Fentries%2FMD-01-033-0004.xml?q=%28section%3AMD-01%29%20AND%20city%3ABowie |archive-date=29 August 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  Levitt & Sons had a long history of prohibiting the sale of houses (including resale by owners) to African Americans which led to protests during the [[Civil Rights Movement]] in Bowie in 1963.<ref name = "Time200">[https://web.archive.org/web/20110408091855/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989781-1,00.html Suburban Legend WILLIAM LEVITT]</ref>

====Belair Estate====
The original Belair Estate contains the [[Belair Mansion (Bowie, Maryland)|Belair Mansion]] (circa 1745), the five-part Georgian plantation house of Governor [[Samuel Ogle]] and his son Governor [[Benjamin Ogle]]. It was purchased in 1898 by the wealthy banker [[James T. Woodward]] who, on his passing in 1910, left it to his nephew, [[William Woodward Sr.]], who became a famous horseman. Restored to reflect its 250-year-old legacy, the Mansion is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].

[[Belair Stable Museum|Belair Stable]], on the Estate, was part of the famous [[Belair Stud]], one of the premier [[Thoroughbred horse racing|racing stables]] in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s.<ref name="Hahn 2013 h166">{{cite web | last=Hahn | first=Fritz | title=Ride into Kentucky Derby history at Belair Stable Museum in Bowie | website=Washington Post | date=May 2, 2013 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/ride-into-kentucky-derby-history-at-belair-stable-museum-in-bowie/2013/05/02/e7810ba6-a911-11e2-a8e2-5b98cb59187f_story.html | access-date=January 15, 2024}}</ref> Owned and operated by [[William Woodward Sr.]] (1876–1953), it closed in 1957 following the death of his son, [[William Woodward Jr.|Billy Woodward]]. Belair had been the oldest continually operating racing horse farm in the country.<ref name="Morvay 2005 o039">{{cite web | last=Morvay | first=Joanne E. | title=Bowie's rural roots offer visitors a peek into the area's past | website=Baltimore Sun | date=January 6, 2005 | url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2005/01/06/bowies-rural-roots-offer-visitors-a-peek-into-the-areas-past/ | access-date=January 15, 2024}}</ref>

===21st century===
{{more citations needed section|date=January 2013}}
Bowie has an area of {{convert|16|sqmi|km2}} and about 50,000 residents with nearly {{convert|2,000|acre|km2}} set aside as parks or open space. It has 72 ball fields, three community centers, an ice arena at [[Allen Pond Park]], the [[Bowie Town Center]], the 800-seat Bowie Center for the Performing Arts,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bowiecenter.org/ |title=Bowie Center for the Performing Arts |website=bowiecenter.org |access-date=August 7, 2022}}</ref> a 150-seat theatrical playhouse, a golf course, and three museums.

Bowie's rail town history is on display via the [[Huntington Railroad Museum]], within the local rail station's restored railroad buildings. In 2006, the city reopened the Bowie Building Association building, a small brick and block structure constructed circa 1930, as a Welcome Center; it originally housed the Bowie Building Association, which helped finance much of the community's early development.

Bowie is home to the [[Chesapeake Baysox]], a [[Minor League Baseball]] team of the [[Eastern League (1938–present)|Eastern League]] which serves as the [[Double-A (baseball)|Double-A]] affiliate of the [[Baltimore Orioles]]. The Baysox moved to Bowie from Hagerstown in 1993 and began to play at Prince George's Stadium in 1994. In 2015, the Baysox captured their first [[List of Eastern League champions|Eastern League championship]], defeating the [[Reading Fightin Phils]] in five games.

The city operates a senior citizens center and a gymnasium for community programs.