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Bowie, Arizona

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1917 and the latest in 1996. It stands in the Bowie census division. It lies in ZIP code area 85605. It stands on Buckeye Wash. The Survey maps it on the Bowie quadrangle. 406 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,763 feet above sea level.

Bowie within Cochise County

On record in Bowie

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 3 records

Surveyed buildings and structures 11 records

Population over time

2 figures

Bowie fell from 449 to 406 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010449
2020406-43 (-10%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 17 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Photographs

6 photographs, 2018

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Sunset near the desolate Fort Bowie National Historic Site in Cochise County, Arizona
Sunset near the desolate Fort Bowie National Historic Site in Cochise County, Arizona
Highsmith, Carol M, 2018. Library of Congress
The remnants of Fort Bowie, a 19th-century outpost from which the United States Army battled the area's Chiricahua Apaches
The remnants of Fort Bowie, a 19th-century outpost from which the United States Army battled the area's Chiricahua Apaches
Highsmith, Carol M, 2018. Library of Congress
Fort Bowie, Corrals, Bowie, Cochise County, AZ
Fort Bowie, Corrals, Bowie, Cochise County, AZ
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Fort Bowie, Guardhouse, Bowie, Cochise County, AZ
Fort Bowie, Guardhouse, Bowie, Cochise County, AZ
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
Fort Bowie, Cavalry Barracks, Bowie, Cochise County, AZ
Fort Bowie, Cavalry Barracks, Bowie, Cochise County, AZ
Photographer not recorded. Library of Congress
The remnants of Fort Bowie, a 19th-century outpost from which the United States Army battled the area's Chiricahua Apaches
The remnants of Fort Bowie, a 19th-century outpost from which the United States Army battled the area's Chiricahua Apaches
Highsmith, Carol M, 2018. Library of Congress

Fires near this place

46 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 46 fires within 5 miles of Bowie between 1993 and 2019, burning about 121 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined29
Equipment and vehicle use8
Debris and open burning3
Arson/incendiarism3
Smoking2
Recreation and ceremony1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
6 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State OfficeFORT BOWIE
30 September 1993Equipment and vehicle use3.0 acresArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State Officenot named
16 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State OfficeRUNNING
6 August 2000Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State OfficeBOWIE
27 August 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - Southeast DistrictLUZENA
10 August 2001Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - State OfficeKV POWER
11 July 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreBowie Fire DistrictI 10 MM 361
8 June 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined50 acresArizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management - Southeast DistrictCOWBOY

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Cochise County

Mines and quarries near this place

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Bowie: 6 producers, 1 occurrence, 1 past producer. 6 still produce. What was taken out: Gypsum-Anhydrite, Geothermal, Tungsten, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Bowie Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Rough ClaimsTungstenOccurrence1945
Name UnknownGeothermalProducer
Name UnknownGeothermalProducer
Name UnknownGypsum-AnhydriteProducer
Name UnknownGypsum-AnhydriteProducer
Name UnknownGypsum-AnhydriteProducer
Name UnknownGypsum-AnhydriteProducer

Every working recorded in Cochise County

Storms near this place

17 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bowie in 17 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 10 thunderstorm wind, 5 flash flood, 2 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2014Flash FloodBowie$50,000Thunderstorms produced very heavy rainfall that flooded five homes in Bowie, some with up to a foot of water. The courthouse also sustained minor damage from an inch of water entering the building. High water also caused the temporary closure of a short stretch of Interstate 10 from Mile Marker 365 to near 366. Multiple car accidents occurred in that area, forcing the closure of both the eastbound and westbound lanes of Interstate 10 for about an hour. Apache Pass and Roberts Farm Road were also closed in Bowie.
September 2025Thunderstorm WindBowie$12,000Report of overturned semitruck along Interstate 10. No injuries were reported.
September 2018Flash FloodBowie$10,000Thunderstorms produced periods of heavy rain totaling 2 to 3 inches during the early morning hours. Interstate 10 near Bowie was closed in both directions due to flash flooding. Several swift water rescues were performed.
September 2025Flash FloodBowie$2,000Arizona Department of Transportation camera showed an estimated foot of water moving across Apache Pass Road in Bowie, AZ. A nearby rain gauge recorded 0.43 inches of rainfall.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindBowie$1,000The Willcox sheriff reported that thunderstorm winds blew down an outbuilding in Bowie.
September 2025HailBowie-Estimated hail size of 1.5 inches with hail accumulation covering the roadways of roughly 8 inches deep.
September 2025Thunderstorm WindBowie-Weather station recorded wind gust of 60 mph.
September 2025HailBowie-Report of nickel sized hail (0.88 inch in diameter) with an observed wind gust of 51 mph nearby report.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindBowie-A severe thunderstorm in northeast Cochise County resulted in a wind gust to 66 mph along Interstate 10 between San Simon and Bowie.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindBowie-A wind gust to 63 mph was recorded at the Bowie AZDOT sensor at 1403MST.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindBowie-A thunderstorm wind gust to 60 mph was recorded at a Union Pacific weather station near Bowie.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindBowie-A wind gust to 68 mph was recorded by a state DOT sensor at Olga and Interstate 10.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindBowie-A wind gust to 60 mph was recorded by a state DOT sensor at Olga and Interstate 10.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindBowie-CWOP AU921 south of Bowie measured a thunderstorm wind gust to 59 mph.
September 2020Thunderstorm WindBowie-A thunderstorm wind gust of 61 mph was measured by a state DOT weather instrument at Bowie, Arizona.
July 2007Flash FloodBowie-Three men were rescued from swift moving flood waters near Bowie.
July 1996Flash FloodBowie-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Cochise County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Buckeye Mill7.0 miles17
Olga7.0 miles17
Luzena7.7 miles17
Bowie Junction (historical)7.8 miles17
Yellow Hammer Mill10.8 miles17
Dos Cabezas12.4 miles17
Raso14.1 miles18
San Simon14.3 miles18

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on BowieAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q4950998The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1890. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.