Bowman County, North Dakota: History
The legislature of the Dakota Territory designated Bowman (named for Edward M. Bowman, a member of the territorial House of Representatives during the 1883 session) as a separate county on March 8, 1883, although it was not organized at that time. In 1885, its boundaries were altered ceding territory to Billings and Villard Counties (Villard itself was eliminated in 1887). In 1891, and again in 1896, the South Dakota legislature eliminated the not-yet-organized Bowman County, due to scant settlement in the area, but these actions either were not put into effect (the 1891 vote) or were overturned in judicial appeal (the 1896 vote).
A decision by the North Dakota Supreme Court on May 24, 1901, resurrected Bowman County. The decision caused the county's area to slightly increase; its former boundary descriptions were replaced by descriptions based on the boundary lines of adjacent jurisdictions, which added a strip along its south border and another strip along its east border.
Since the scantily populated county was still unorganized, in March 1903 the legislature attached the area to Stark County for judicial purposes. This state of affairs continued until November 1904, when the legislature again dissolved the county and assigned its territory to Billings County. However, on June 10, 1907, ND Governor John Burke issued a proclamation which re-created Bowman County. This proclamation did not attach the area to any other area for judicial purposes. On July 5, 1907, the new county was organized and Bowman was confirmed to be the county seat.
The US Navy ship USS Bowman County (LST-391), a tank landing ship in World War II, was named for the county.