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Summary
Bowman House
714 Broadway Street, Wisconsin Dells, Columbia County
Date of Construction: 1904
Architecture in the United States underwent a dramatic change at the turn of the twentieth century. The period saw the emergence of the Prairie Style, spearheaded by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The Bowman House in Wisconsin Dells is an early example of the style. Prairie style was prevalent throughout the Midwest, and an early example of this is the Bowman House in Wisconsin Dells.
Built by Abram and Alberta Bowman in 1904, the Bowman House has many features of the Prairie style, including a long horizontal appearance, low-pitched roof, and wide eaves. This was a drastic departure from the more traditional Victorian styles of the period, focusing on an open floor plan and a strong horizontal emphasis. Although the Bowman House has no known architect, Abram and Alberta Bowman may have copied or adapted elements of the Prairie Style from published designs.
Abram Bowman, son of State Assemblyman and Senator Jonathan Bowman, was a successful banker and real estate businessman, though inhibited by failing health throughout his career. He died shortly after the house’s completion in 1907, and his widow sold the house to Abram’s two unmarried sisters, Emma and Jennie Bowman. When Jennie Bowman died in 1934, she left the house as a memorial to her father Jonathan Bowman, requesting that the house be turned into a free vacation home for working women over 45, called the Jonathan Bowman Home for Women. Thus the memory of Abram Bowman was overshadowed by that of his father, a man who had died before the house was even built.
The vacation home operated until 1977, when it was turned over to the city and eventually made into a museum by the Dells Country Historical Society, which opens the house to the public on a regular basis during the summer season. The house and adjacent park are well-kept by the Society, and the Bowman house continues as an example of the early Prairie style. Further information about the Dells Country Historical Society and the Bowman House Museum can be found at: website.
Property Details
Resources Within The Property
Designations
State & National Registers of Historic Places
The State Register and National Register recognize buildings, sites, districts, structures, and objects that are significant in national, state, or local history. The State Historic Preservation Office in conjunction with the National Park Service maintains the list for Wisconsin and makes the data available to the public for research and education.
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An old timer's stories of the Wisconsin Dells
Feb 28, 1906
Milwaukee Free Press
Jonathan Bowman Home for Women
Exterior view from street of a house in a residential neighborhood. A carport or porte-cochere is on the left of the front porch. Two women stand in the yard in the background.According to the Dell...
