Bowie Racetrack

Maryland Historical Society

The City of Bowie (population estimate 2003 53,660) encompasses a very large tract of land in northeastern Prince George’s County, comprising local farms and railroad villages. Belair Estate, built for colonial Governor Samuel Ogle around 1745 on some 2,500 acres, forms the nucleus for the modern community.

Samuel Ogle (ca. 1694-1751), three-time colonial governor of Maryland, arrived in Annapolis in 1731 at the request of the proprietor, Charles Calvert, the fifth Baron Baltimore. Ten years later, Ogle married Anne Tasker, the daughter of one of the principal political and social leaders of colonial Maryland. The estate has a long history of serving as a superb stud farm for Thoroughbred race horses. Around 1747, Governor Ogle imported the first documented pair of English Thoroughbreds to America. Belair gained the reputation as the “Cradle of American Thoroughbred Racing.” This history persisted at this stud farm for two centuries.

Samuel Ogle’s son, Benjamin Ogle (1748/9-1809), would serve as Governor of the State of Maryland himself, being elected for three one-year terms beginning in 1798. A near neighbor to the Belair Estate in later days was Oden Bowie, owner of “Fairview” and sometime Governor of Maryland.

The financial havoc of the Civil War proved too much for the final Ogle descendant, George Cooke Ogle, who was forced to sell the estate in 1871. The house passed through a number of hands for the remainder of the century, breaking that trend in 1898 when James T. Woodward, president of the New York’s Hanover Bank, purchased the estate. The Woodward period marked a substantial revival for the Belair Estate and its role in racing. Nephew William Woodward Sr. owned two Triple Crown winners raised on the estate: Gallant Fox, who took the title in 1930, and Omaha, winner of 1935. Later, Nashua would be hailed as the “Horse of the Year” in 1955.

The Railroad and the Town
Following the Civil War, the fledgling Baltimore and Potomac (B&P) Railroad Company gained a powerful ally in the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was looking for a route into Washington, D.C. The U.S. Congress had denied the Pennsylvania Railroad direct access to the nation’s capital, already served by the Baltimore and Ohio. However, the Baltimore and Potomac’s charter allowed for spur lines of up to 20 miles to be constructed from the main line. The B&P built its main line to sleepy Pope’s Creek in Charles County, but it extended a spur into Washington which allowed its train--and those of the Pennsylvania--to destroy the B&O’s monopoly on service to the nation’s capitol. Train service commenced on July 2, 1872. The “spur” line today serves as an integral part of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, while the original mainline to Charles County, which opened January 1, 1873, survives as the little-used Pope’s Creek branch.

The wye where the B&P’s Washington spurt left its main line formed a core around which the town of Bowie grew up. Developer Ben Plumb purchased 300 acres at the site of the wye and had it surveyed for town lots, selling for $25.00 a piece, with plans for houses ranging in size from four to eight rooms, each surrounded with verandahs. Shops, a hotel, railroad buildings, churches, and houses began to spring up in the little settlement which was known as Huntington City, although the rail depot itself was always known as the Bowie Station. The Maryland Legislature passed an Act of Incorporation for Huntington on March 3, 1874. The preeminence of the railroad station clearly had more impact, because by May 3, 1880, the Legislature passed another act to change the name of the town to Bowie, a tribute to Governor Oden Bowie (1826-1894), whose influence had assisted in the formation of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad. On April 18, 1916, the Town of Bowie was incorporated, and later became the City of Bowie after a merger with the Levitt Corporation’s Belair at Bowie on February 18, 1959.

A second railroad entered the community when the Baltimore, Washington and Annapolis electric trolley line began service in 1908. The large interurban cars brought rapid transit to the area, with area stations including High Bridge and Hillmead. The line ceased operations by 1935, though the line between Baltimore and Annapolis operated until 1950.

Education
In 1908, the Maryland General Assembly established the Maryland Normal and Industrial School, incorporating the Baltimore Colored Normal School into the State Board of Education. Two years later, a farm outside of the Town of Bowie called “Jericho” was purchased for the construction of the school, which opened in 1911 with four faculty members and 60 students. In 1938, the name changed to the State Teachers College of Bowie, later renamed Bowie State College. In 1988, the College became a part of the University System of Maryland as Bowie State University, offering a wide range of degrees to undergraduate and graduate students.

Bowie is known to many as the site of the Bowie Race Track, founded in 1914 by the Southern Maryland Agricultural Association. The track saw continuous use until 1985, but continues to be a stable and training course for horses by the Maryland Jockey Club.

Post-War Changes
The post-World War II era brought the most significant changes to the Bowie region since the arrival of the railroad. In 1955, William Woodward Jr. (1920-1955), the third generation of Woodward owners of the Belair Estate, tragically died at the family house on Long Island, New York. The Woodward heirs elected for the sale of Belair, which was done by auction. In August 1957, real estate developer William J. Levitt paid $1,750,000 for the estate. Houses soon rose on concrete slabs in assembly line fashion, six to ten a day being built. Each house included a complete kitchen, laundry with washer and dryer, and central air conditioning.

Today the City of Bowie has grown from the initial patchwork of farms and villages such as Collington, Mitchellville, and Huntington into a vibrant city of 16 square miles holding some 15,000 households. As of 2006, over 90 development projects are planned or under construction in the Bowie area, including residential, retail and office parks. There is a diversity of recreational facilities from 16 miles of bike trails to an indoor ice rink, tennis courts, 76 athletic fields, and 15 parks. Besides six museums, the city operates the Bowie Playhouse and houses the Prince George’s County Baseball Stadium, home to the Bowie Baysox, the AA minor league affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles.

Baltz, Shirley V. Belair from the Beginning. Bowie: City of Bowie Museums, 2005.

Gans, Herbert J. The Levittowners: Ways of Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community. New York: Vintage Books, 1969.

Prospectus of Huntington, Prince George’s County, Maryland. Washington, D.C.: Cunningham and MacIntosh Printing, 1870.

Town of Bowie, Maryland: 1870—1960. Bowie: Huntington Heritage Society, Inc., 2006.