Community Projects: Bowman
Like many small towns in North Dakota…in the early 1900s homesteaders established Bowman to support the railroad industry. Today – community efforts, along with financial resources from ranching and the oil industry, have helped Bowman’s main street not only stay alive but thrive.
Due to its remote location in the southeast corner of the state, Bowman still boasts a thriving downtown unlike many small rural towns. “People’s mentality is keep your business in Bowman as much as you can” according to Kayla Abrahamson–Haney of the Bowman County Development Corporation. “We don’t have to want to have to send off our kids and not be able to job—good paying jobs for them to come back.”
City leaders have also made efforts to reuse older buildings rather than have them deteriorate or be torn down. A large grocery store was remodeled and became a spacious library, a bank was converted to house business offices, and a large lumberyard now houses a fine museum.
Volunteers from the community labored to convert an empty lumberyard to house collections of pioneer artifacts and dinosaur bones from the nearby world famous Hells Creek Foundation fossil fields. Bowman’s efforts seem to be returning rewards to the community. Today, the Pioneer Trails Regional Museum draws tourists to the area.
The Pioneer Trails Regional Museum’s dinosaur exhibits draw enthusiasts to Bowman from around the US and Canada.