Bowie, Arizona

The Southern Pacific built a rail line through eastern Arizona in 1880, including a stop at Bowie. Once a junction was made in March 1881 with eastern rail lines in Deming, New Mexico, this line was the second transcontinental rail route across the United States.[4]

The community is named for the former Fort Bowie.[5]

Bowie first appeared on the 1910 U.S. Census as the "Bowie Precinct" of Cochise County.[7] It appeared again in 1920[8] and 1930[9] as a precinct. It reported a majority White population in 1930.[10] The population of Bowie was 650 in the 1960 census.[11] 2010, when it was made a census-designated place (CDP).[12]

The community lies on Interstate 10 in eastern Arizona close to the western New Mexico border. The community is in the west of the San Simon Valley, as well as the northeast foothills of the Dos Cabezas Mountains. On Interstate 10, Willcox, Arizona at the Willcox Playa lies west-southwest; San Simon, AZ and Road Forks-Lordsburg, New Mexico lie east.

Bowie has the ZIP Code of 85605; in 2010, the population of the 85605 ZCTA was 449.[13]

Bowie, Arizona gained attention when it was revealed that it was action icon John Rambo's hometown. This was first unveiled in Rambo: First Blood Part II and later elaborated on in Rambo III. In the film Rambo from 2008, Bowie was seen on screen for the first time, although the filming of that particular scene was actually done in Southern California. 2019's Rambo: Last Blood took place entirely in Bowie and Mexico, though filming was not done in Arizona.

Bowie has a borderline semi-arid/desert climate (Köppen BSk/BWk/BSh/BWh) with very hot summers punctuated by monsoon rains, and mild, generally dry winters with cold nights. Typically there are 26.9 days topping 100 °F or 37.8 °C and 119 days over 90 °F or 32.2 °C, which only a few days with unusually heavy rain failing to top this mark during the summer. In the winter, there are typically 63.6 nights falling below freezing, with the all-time record low being 3 °F (−16.1 °C) on December 9, 1978 – though the dryness means only one day every three or four winters will fail to top freezing, and only 6.4 days per winter will not top 50 °F or 10 °C. The average snowfall is 2.6 inches or 0.07 metres, but the median is zero so that most winters do not have measurable falls, though 8.7 inches (0.22 m) fell in January 1978.

Since 1899 the wettest calendar year has been 1914 with 19.96 inches (507.0 mm) and the driest 1956 with 3.01 inches (76.5 mm), whilst the wettest month has been July 1919 with 6.38 inches (162.1 mm),[14] and the wettest day October 30 of 1951 with 2.75 inches (69.9 mm).