Wirt Bowman

Who was Wirt Bowman?

Wirt G. Bowman was an American self-described capitalist. He was also an entrepreneur, speculator, casino owner, and one of the founders of the Agua Caliente Casino and Hotel in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.

Bowman was the son of a Virginian Confederate cavalry veteran and expert telegraph operator who settled in West Point, Mississippi following the war. In 1887, the family moved to Childress, Texas, where they engaged in farming and ranching.

In 1894, at the age of 20, Wirt Bowman became a telegraph operator and station agent for the Southern Pacific Railway. During his 18 years with the railroad, it was said that he worked at every station between Nogales and Guaymas, except for Santa Ana. On June 3, 1896, he married his first wife, Magdalene Bernaldo, in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico. They had four children, Matilda Ruth Bowman, born March 27, 1897; Edna Bowman Cavanaugh, born March 24, 1900; Georgia Bowman, born February 22, 1914, died August 14, 1918 from burns; and Betty Jean Bowman born January 19, 1918, died, October 12, 1973 from cancer. He left the railroad in 1912 to devote his time to ranching in Nogales, Arizona, where he soon became an exceptionally successful businessman and politician. Bowman was a resident of Nogales for 51 years, and was responsible for much of its development and construction, including the Bowman Hotel and the Nogales Theater. He eventually owned the First National Bank, and was a principal investor in the Arizona Brewing Company in Phoenix, which offered Sunbru, the first bottled beer sold in Arizona when Prohibition ended. Bowman also purchased large amounts of land in Arizona and southern California, particularly several noted properties in San Diego.