Bowen Station
A 1922 plat map (right) shows that the area around 44th Street and Kalamazoo Avenue was called Bowen Station, and had a Crosby post office. The reason for the name Bowen Station was the rail depot that once existed on the Bostwick Bowen property, by permission of the owners. It was torn down in about 1904, and a school built across the street using some of the materials from the depot. To date, no photograph of the depot has surfaced. Notice in the upper left hand corner of the map is the name Ponce De Leon, at what today is at about 36th Street and Eastern Avenue. Around 1900 there was a natural spring in the area, and there was demand for bottled water from this spring from distant places. The water was loaded on to the train, which passed by the southwest corner of the operation.
By the early 1950s there were vestages of the Ponce De Leon water business, but clearly the halcyon days were over. Whether the spring has ceased being adequately productive, or was tainted by all the local development, or there were many other sources of spring water, is unclear at this time. It appears that a small area could be named after either a business interest, or perhaps a local family. In the case of Bowen station, it is both - the family allowed the construction of a railroad freight station, and perhaps a depot. |