BOWIE HIGH SCHOOL
801 SOUTH SAN MARCIAEL PASO,TX 79905
(915) 496-8200 
mgarcia4@episd.org
rgreen@episd.org
Phone- 915-496-8220/ 915-496-8216
Fax- 915-532-1918

JROTC HISTORY

Back in 1922 growth in Second Ward, the area bounded by Cotton Street on the East, the Rio Grande on the South and West, and Texas on the North, was such that the two grammar schools at the time in the barrio were bursting at the seams. Aoy was already thirty years old and Alamo was twenty three. The School Board decided to ease the overcrowding by constructing another grammar school in the area where Cotton and Seventh streets meet. The first students at the site were there in September 1923. A total of 695 students in kindergarten through the 6th grade settled into the new building. By 1925 the new school showed a lot of promise for the families who looked with hope to the benefits their children would receive in the beautiful structure in their midst. By 1927 a ninth grade was added and an additional grade was added each subsequent year. The first senior class of 13 students, 4 girls and 9 boys, graduated from the school in January 1931.

In time the campus saw the construction of administrative offices for the J.R.O.T.C and workshops to teach the manual labor skills which many thought was the best way to prepare Bowie students for a future.The Army J.R.O.T.C. came to Bowie in January 1936. The cadets wore World War I uniforms with O.D. shirts, riding trousers with wrap leggings and brown shoes. At the time, few of the boys in the program realized that the freshman entering Bowie that year would be fighting and dying in the far flung battlefields of World War II five years later. But here, they and many others to follow in the same footsteps would learn the rudiments of military training and leadership that would thrust them into responsible positions when the war came. Mr. A. E. Lang, a veteran of World War I, took over in 1938 and remained at Bowie until 1943.But those Osos Orgullosos, mindful of their heritage, their duty to their country and the honor of their families performed well and distinguished themselves in combat. They and others to follow in subsequent wars were awarded many decorations by a grateful nation.

The Chamizal Treaty:

On September 25, 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson and President Adolfo Lopez Mateos, President of Mexico, met on the Bowie Campus and amicably settled the thorny border dispute of the Chamizal that had been a problem between the two countries for 100 years. The Chamizal Treaty resulted in the transfer of 630 acres of land formerly in the United States to Mexico and 193 acres formerly in the eastern part of Juarez to the United States. Part of the U.S. land was used to build the Chamizal National Park to commemorate the treaty signing event and the remainder was set aside for a high school to be built on the site, which is Bowie High School today and home of the mighty 3rd battalion JROTC (osos) bears.