Bowie County, Texas

Native Americans

The farming Caddoan Mississippian culture dates as early as the Late Archaic Period 1500 BCE in Bowie County.^[5] The Hernando de Soto expedition of 1541 resulted in violent encounters. Spanish and French missionaries brought smallpox, measles malaria, and influenza epidemics.^[6] Eventually, these issues and problems with the Osage, forced the Caddo to abandon their homelands. Settlers had peaceful relations with the 19th century Shawnee, Delaware and Kickapoo in the area.

Explorations and county established

French explorer Jean Baptiste Bénard de La Harpe founded the military fort Le Poste des Cadodaquious in 1719.^[7] The fort remained in continuous use until 1770. The Red River Expedition of 1806 which passed through Bowie County,^[8] headed by Thomas Freeman and Peter Custis, was of great diplomatic and economic importance to President Thomas Jefferson. Bowie County was established in December 1840 and reduced to its present size in 1846. DeKalb was the temporary county seat, with Boston becoming the permanent county seat in 1841.^[9][10]

Bowie County, in the years leading up to the American Civil War, was settled mostly by Southerners who brought their slave labor to work the cotton fields. By 1860, slaves outnumbered whites 2,651 to 2,401. The county voted 208–15 in favor of secession from the Union.^[11] While Bowie was never a battlefield in that war, it was occupied during Reconstruction. Between 1860 and 1870, the population declined. The occupation, and the new legal equality of blacks, became a hostile situation that fostered Cullen Baker.

Cullen Montgomery Baker (b. circa 1835 – d. 1869)^[12] was a twice-widowed, mean-spirited drunk who killed his first man before he was 20. When Thomas Orr married Baker's late wife's sister, thereby denying Baker that opportunity, Baker attempted to hang Orr. Legends abound as to his activities in Bowie and Cass Counties, including a rumored tie to the Ku Klux Klan. His exploits turned him into a folk hero dubbed "The Swamp Fox of the Sulphur River".^[13][14] He was a Confederate States Army veteran who joined two units, designated as a deserter from the first, and receiving a disability discharge from the second.^[15] Reconstruction allowed him to focus his anger toward what many at the time believed was a Union intrusion into their lives. Baker and his gang conducted a vicious rampage against citizens he perceived as being on the wrong side of the black labor issue, at William G. Kirkman and the Freedman's Bureau in Bowie County, and at the soldiers of the Union occupation. Kirkman unsuccessfully pursued Baker, killing one of Baker's men in the second attempt. Like Swamp Fox Francis Marion, Baker always managed to elude capture, often with the help of local citizens. Kirkland was murdered by "person or persons unknown",^[11] but Baker boasted of having done the deed. In December 1869, Thomas Orr and a group of neighbors killed Baker.^[15] A local legend has it the deed was accomplished with strychnine-laced whiskey.

When the Texas and Pacific Railway was constructed through the county, a new town named Texarkana was founded.^[16][17]

Bowie was hit hard by the Great Depression. Measurable relief came late when the Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant was established in 1942. The base was active until 2009.^[18] The Red River Army Depot,^[19] opened in 1941, remains active. The two installations occupied almost 40,000 acres (160 km²) and provided job opportunities for thousands.

Adjacent counties

• Cass County south
• Morris County southwest
• Red River County west
• Miller County, Arkansas east
• Little River County, Arkansas northeast
• McCurtain County, Oklahoma northwest

Communities

Racial and ethnic composition

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 92,893. The median age was 39.7 years. 23.0% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.7% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 101.0 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 100.3 males age 18 and over.^[33]

The racial makeup of the county was 61.9% White, 25.0% Black or African American, 0.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 4.6% from some other race, and 6.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 8.2% of the population.^[34]

62.1% of residents lived in urban areas, while 37.9% lived in rural areas.^[35]

There were 35,518 households in the county, of which 31.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 43.0% were married-couple households, 18.8% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 32.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 29.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.^[33]

There were 39,536 housing units, of which 10.2% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 62.0% were owner-occupied and 38.0% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.8% and the rental vacancy rate was 9.9%.^[33]

2000 census

As of the 2000 census, 89,306 people, 33,058 households, and 23,438 families resided in the county. The population density was 101 inhabitants per square mile (39/km²). The 36,463 housing units averaged 41 units per square mile (16/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 73.26% White, 23.42% Black or African American, 0.58% Native American, 0.43% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 1.12% from other races, and 1.15% from two or more races. About 4.47% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Politics

Bowie County had voting patterns similar to the Solid South up until 1976. The county has consistently voted for the GOP in each 21st century president election. The last Democrat to win this county was Bill Clinton of neighboring Arkansas, with which the county shares the Texarkana metropolitan area, in both of his national victories.

Bowie County is located within District 1 of the Texas House of Representatives. Bowie County is located within District 1 of the Texas Senate.