Bowie High School

Bowie High School is one of the oldest operating high schools in El Paso. Originally located in the Segundo Barrio neighborhood of South El Paso, the school would go on to primarily serve Mexican American students. The school was built in 1922 and named Bowie Grammar School in 1927, the campus became Bowie High School to relieve overcrowding at El Paso High School. Principal Robert C. Jackson oversaw 695 students during Bowie's first academic school year. In 1931, Bowie High School had 1,059 students enrolled. In 1939, a new school building was constructed adjacent to the original 1922 building. The two buildings created the Bowie Junior and Senior High School campus that spanned 25 acres with more than 1,200 students., In 1949, Bowie High School won the first-ever Class 2A High School Baseball Championship in Texas. In September 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) met with Mexican President Adolfo López Mateos (1910-1969) on the Bowie Campus to sign the Chamizal Treaty that would resolve a border dispute along the Rio Grande. The school was soon relocated to the west side of Cordova Island due to the newly resolved national boundary. In spite of the relocation, Bowie High School continued to grow with 1,515 students attending in the 1973-74 school year when a new Bowie High School campus was developed, school trustees agreed to rename the existing school after Ambrosio Guillen, a Bowie Alum who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Korean War. In 1989, the 1922 building was razed and replaced by the new administrative and resource center for Guillen Middle School. While the name and location of Bowie High School has changed, its mission of educating and empowering students continues.