Bowbells is a city in and the county seat of Burke County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 301 at the 2020 census.
History
The city of Bowbells was founded in 1898 along the main line of the Soo Line Railroad and incorporated in 1906. The city was named by railroad officials after the famed Bow bells at St Mary-le-Bow in London, England. The Soo Line is now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway and runs diagonally from the southeast to the northwest heading toward Portal, North Dakota, where the railroad crosses into Saskatchewan. The Great Northern Railway built a branchline in the early 1900s on the east side of the city that runs south-north toward Northgate, North Dakota and Northgate, Saskatchewan that became a secondary mainline, currently operated by Canadian National Railway over trackage originally owned by BNSF.
The city's centennial celebration was held in the third week in July 2006. Several hundred people from all over the country registered and attended. Burke County celebrated its centennial in the summer of 2010.
Culture
The town is home to a Lutheran, a Methodist, and a Roman Catholic church.
A municipal golf course is located four miles east of the city, and a community swimming pool, park and campground are available as well for visitors and residents.
Bowbells' schoolhouse, built in 1909 at a cost of $15,000, is still in use. Due to attentive management over the years, the brick building is still in good condition and currently houses kindergarten through twelfth grade students. The building has a jerkinhead roof, combining gable and hipped roof types.
Economy
Farmers in the area produce crops such as barley, canola, flax, oats, peas, sunflowers, durum and Hard Red Spring Wheat. There have been substantial oil wells in the area and thus oil-related businesses, including drilling, service and distribution businesses.
Some of the businesses in the town include an implement dealership, SunPrairie Grain (a division of CHS Incorporated), Savage Industries, and government-related buildings and businesses. The town's main street includes a gas station, a service station, a handful of crop and property insurance agencies, Dacotah Bank, Bowbells Hotel, and North Dakota Wine Kitchen. Since Bowbells is the county seat of Burke County, the county courthouse is located here. It's on the southwest side of town. The official county newspaper, The Burke County Tribune newspaper, is located in the city as well.
Montana-Dakota Utilities provides electrical service to the town. There is no municipal natural gas service.
Geography
Bowbells is located 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.
Bowbells is about south of the Canada–US 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. It is located approximately 52 miles northwest of Minot, the nearest city with an international airport (MOT) and 30 miles north of Stanley, the nearest passenger train station.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.