Bowbells, North Dakota
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bowbells is a city in Burke County, North Dakota in the United States. It is the county seat of Burke County. The population was 406 at the 2000 census (down from its 1990 population of 498). The Voice of America (VOA) noted that Burke County was the "fastest-shrinking county in the nation" (as of 2005). Bowbells was founded in 1898.
Bowbells is about 20 km (12 miles) south of the Canadian border, just off a 90-degree bend in U.S. Highway 52 and along the Canadian Pacific Railway, a railway serving the SunPrairie Grain grain terminal there.
Farmers in the area produce crops such as barley, canola, flax, oats, peas, sunflowers, durum and Hard Red Spring Wheat.
The town is home to a Lutheran, a Methodist, and a Roman Catholic church. The VOA article quoted a town resident who pointed out that that the town's three Christian congregations often hold services together.
Businesses in the town include Dacotah Bank, SunPrairie Grain (a division of CHS Incorporated), Savage Industries, Peterson's Department Store, and Winzy's Drive-In. During a VOA reporter's visit, the town's main street included a boarded-up hotel, café, hardware store, bowling alley, and a grocery store.
The city's centennial is in 2006.
[edit] Geography
Bowbells is located at (48.803761, -102.246146)GR1, a few miles west of Upper Des Lacs Lake and the Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge. The Des Lacs valley was formed as meltwater flowed out of Glacial Lake Regina thousands of years ago.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 2.1 km² (0.8 mi²). 2.0 km² (0.8 mi²) of it is land and 1.25% is water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 406 people, 174 households, and 116 families residing in the town. The population density was 198.4/km² (511.2/mi²). There were 214 housing units at an average density of 104.6/km² (269.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 98.77% White, 0.74% Native American, 0.25% Asian, and 0.25% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.25% of the population.
There were 174 households out of which 31.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.7% were married couples living together, 7.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.3% were non-families. 32.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 2.97.
In the town the population was spread out with 27.3% under the age of 18, 3.7% from 18 to 24, 24.9% from 25 to 44, 23.2% from 45 to 64, and 20.9% who are 65 years of age or older. About 100 K-12 students attend the town's local public school. The median age is 42 years. For every 100 females there were 91.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.3 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $30,455, and the median income for a family was $35,625. Males had a median income of $30,833 versus $12,212 for females. The per capita income for the town was $15,491. About 9.2% of families and 8.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.1% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] External links
- City of Bowbells official website
- Bowbells public school website
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth
- ... Small Towns Disappear, a September 2005 VOA story about Bowbells, also in MP3 audio format
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State of North Dakota Bismarck (capital) |
|---|---|
| Topics | |
| Regions: |
Badlands | Drift Prairie | Missouri Plateau | Red River Valley | Turtle Mountains |
| Largest cities: |
Beulah-Hazen | Bismarck-Mandan | Devils Lake | Dickinson | Fargo-West Fargo | Grafton | Grand Forks | Jamestown | Minot | Rugby | Valley City | Wahpeton | Williston |
| Counties: |
Adams | Barnes | Benson | Billings | Bottineau | Bowman | Burke | Burleigh | Cass | Cavalier | Dickey | Divide | Dunn | Eddy | Emmons | Foster | Golden Valley | Grand Forks | Grant | Griggs | Hettinger | Kidder | La Moure | Logan | McHenry | McIntosh | McKenzie | McLean | Mercer | Morton | Mountrail | Nelson | Oliver | Pembina | Pierce | Ramsey | Ransom | Renville | Richland | Rolette | Sargent | Sheridan | Sioux | Slope | Stark | Steele | Stutsman | Towner | Traill | Walsh | Ward | Wells | Williams |
