Rowena

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Rowena, Texas, and friend, this one's got layers. Pull up a chair. Back in 1888, the Santa Fe Railroad planted a Section House out here in Runnels County and called it Rowena Station.

Simple enough. Except the post office took one look at that name and said no, because there was already a Ravenna over in Fannin County, and that was close enough to cause trouble. So the name got denied, and things got complicated fast.

Then came 1897, when a man named Paul J. Baron laid the town out proper. He and his wife Mary set up one of the first residences right there in what folks had started calling Baronsville.

The station was still Rowena. The town was Baronsville. And nobody had quite settled the matter.

Now, you'd think that would be enough confusion for one stretch of Texas dirt. You would be wrong. When Gustav Schuhmann became postmaster in 1900, he named his office Bolf, after a land agent by the name of John Bolf.

So now you had a post office called Bolf, sitting in a town called Baronsville, at a station still known as Rowena. Three names, one place. The Barons finally cut through all of it in 1904 and officially changed the town's name to Rowena.

Done. Settled. Mostly.

That same year, the old Cemetery Hill School, which had been sitting about half a mile southeast of town near Rowena's Cemetery, packed up and moved closer to the center of things. By 1908, what had started as one room had grown into four. The community was filling in.

Many of Rowena's early twentieth-century inhabitants were of German and Czech descent, and they built accordingly. German Evangelical, Catholic, Baptist, and Moravian Bohemian Presbyterian churches all got established during that first decade of the century. By 1930, Rowena's population was estimated at around 800 souls.

Trading, farming, community. The kind of town that just keeps going. By 2000 that number had drifted down to around 450, but outfits like the Rowena Lions Club have kept right on tending to the place.

Now. Here's where the marker saves something for last, and it earns that spot. Rowena is remembered as the birthplace of Bonnie Parker, of the Barrow Gang.

That's what the marker calls her: infamous bank robber. Born right here, in a town that couldn't even settle on its own name for the better part of a decade. Three names, four rooms, and one of the most talked-about outlaws in American memory.

Rowena, Texas. It's a lot of story for a small stretch of Runnels County road.

What the marker says

Rowena was originally laid out by Paul J. Baron in 1897. A Santa Fe Railroad Section House known as Rowena Station had been established in the area in 1888; however, the post office officially denied this name as it too much resembled Ravenna in Fannin County. In what was dubbed Baronsville, Baron and his wife, Mary, established one of the first residences. As the area grew in its initial years, the name of the town remained undetermined. When Gustav Schuhmann became postmaster in 1900, he named his office Bolf, after Land Agent John Bolf. Confusion occurred as the post office was named Bolf in the town of Baronsville at the station known as Rowena. The Barons officially changed the town's name to Rowena in 1904. Many early twentieth-century inhabitants of Rowena were of German and Czech descent. The town became a trading point for those involved in the region's agricultural industry. The first one-room school building, known as Cemetery Hill School, was located about half a mile southeast of town, near Rowena's Cemetery. The school moved closer to the center of town in 1904 and by 1908 had grown from one to four rooms. German Evangelical, Catholic, Baptist, and Moravian Bohemian Presbyterian churches were all established during the first decade of the twentieth century. Rowena's population was estimated to be around 800 in 1930, but had slowly declined to around 450 in 2000. Many social groups such as the Rowena Lions Club remain active in community upkeep. Rowena is also remembered as the birthplace of infamous bank robber Bonnie Parker of the Barrow Gang.