William Miller Bowen

William Miller Bowen (about 1865–1937) known as the "Father of Exposition Park" in Los Angeles, California, was a civic leader in that city in the 20th Century and a member of its City Council.[1][2][3]

Bowen

He was born on a farm in Indiana during the American Civil War, and he also farmed in Oklahoma before moving to California.[3]

Bowen was a member of the City Council in 1900-04, and as acting mayor in 1904 he vetoed a council resolution that would have placed a bond issue of $250,000 to build a new city library in Central Park, today's Pershing Square. The library was later built on the site of the Los Angeles State Normal School on Fifth Street.[4][5]

Almost from the time he landed here he became interested in the tract which he afterward dedicated as Exposition Park. At that early day the place was known as Agricultural Park. . . . On it were a race track, a rabbit chasing course, a clubhouse and two saloons which formed a hangout for race-track touts and gamblers.[1]

One day he found some of his Sunday-school pupils visiting the race track and rabbit course, and that impelled him to help organize a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and he "fostered measures which outlawed gambling in the community and ended coursing and racing" in the park.[1]

In the 1910s, he was active in keeping the land on which Exposition Park is now built from being developed by private interests, arguing successfully in state courts for public ownership.[3] He was a member of the park's Board of Governors, resigning in 1936. A bronze tablet was dedicated in his honor in the State Building within the park, and an oak tree was given his name.[1]

In 1914 he was chairman of the Los Angeles Republican Central Committee.[6]

In December 1918, as park commissioner, he made a proposal on behalf of Mayor Frederick T. Woodman that a "gigantic monument," 250 feet high, be erected in Exposition Park in honor of military and naval troops who had fought in the World War just ended and that it be surmounted by a "victory" figure, nine feet high, to rest on a bronze ball four feet in diameter. Access would be provided by a passenger elevator.[7]

He was the attorney for and a member of the Board of Regents of the University of California.[1]

Bowen died at his home, 2033 Virginia Road, on December 22, 1937, "the victim of pneumonia which followed a paralytic stroke." He was survived by his wife, Louise, and a daughter, Mrs. Mary Lorenzen.[1]

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Death Takes W.M. Bowen: Father of Exposition Park Victim of Stroke and Pneumonia," Los Angeles Times, December 23, 1937, pages 1 and 2
  2. ↑ "All Honor to Bowen," Los Angeles Times, April 12, 1913, page II-1
  3. 1 2 3 "William M. Bowen, Los Angeles Times, December 23, 1937, page A-4
  4. ↑ "Library Bonds Vetoed," Los Angeles Times, February 27, 1904, page 6
  5. ↑ Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials 1850–1938, Municipal Reference Library, March 1938, reprinted 1946
  6. ↑ "Fifty-Six Thousand Is Bowen's Estimate," Los Angeles Times, November 1, 1914, page 16
  7. ↑ "Would Erect a Great Obelisk," Los Angeles Times, December 20, 1918, page II-1
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