The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, chartered in 1853, inaugurated train service on July 2, 1872 with a line to Washington, and on January 1, 1873 opened the Pope's Creek line to southern Maryland. At the junction of the two lines the town of Bowie grew up. In 1902, the Pennsylvania Railroad bought out the B&P. House lots sold for $25.00 and soon shops, a hotel, railroad buildings, churches and houses began to spring up in Huntington City. Since the depot was known as Bowie station, the town name changed to Bowie, a tribute to governor Oden Bowie, president of the B&P.
Near here, the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis trolley line opened in 1908, and the two rail lines induced the Southern Maryland Agricultural Society to build the Bowie race track in 1914. A fire in 1910 destroyed the station buildings, but they were rebuilt in the years following and used till 1989. The city of Bowie purchased the structures in 1991, moved the three buildings to their current site, and restored them as a museum in collaboration with the Huntington Heritage Society.
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