R. S. Bowen - Family Histories - Coleman County, Texas

     On November 25, 1872, Richard Sherod Bowen "bought a compass, got on his horse, and started west to grow up with the country," according to the diary ot his mother, Millie Maria Holley Bowen. The family lived on a farm eight miles east of Plano. He went to Col. Bishop's School and became a surveyor. He stayed in Brown County only briefly before coming to Coleman. He proceeded to survey much of Coleman County. At some time, he visited Austin (probably in regard to land titles and boundaries) and was greatly impressed by the way the Capitol City was laid out, so he returned to Coleman and gave the young town its wide main street, Commercial Avenue (like Congress Avenue in Austin), named the east-west streets for trees and the north-south streets for Texas rivers, as they were in Austin!

     Dick Bowen built a fine house for his wife, Jennie Miles and their family, at the southwest corner of Live Oak Street and Fifth Avenue. The lumber was hauled by wagon from the railroad at Baird. Among the advanced features were: the first bathtub in Coleman and embossed simulated leather wall covering in the spacious central hall and dining room. The house was set well back from Fifth Avenue, which it faced, giving relative privacy for enioying the front porch. Large pear and bois d'arc trees graced the fenced yard. In it's last years it was occupied by Misses Florence and Mariana Dibrell, sisters of Mr. Walter Dibrell (see Charles Jenkins Dibrell Family).

     Two sons were born to Dick and Jennie, surviving less than a year. Another son, Mayo, moved to Ft. Worth, where he was active in the Ft. Worth National Bank, serving as president, then chairman of the board, passing away in 1953. There were also six daughters born to Dick and Jennie.

     Dick moved to Aspermont in 1894, where he died in 1896. buried at Coleman.

R. S. Bowen home, soon after it was built, designed by Oscar Ruffini of San Angelo, Texas.

(This picture from the Texas State Archives, was not in "A History of Coleman County and Its People")