Pelham Park
Bowie, Montague County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Before Bowie was incorporated in 1883, Confederate Captain John J. Carter purchased 160 acres in 1878. As early as 1879, veterans of the Confederate Army would meet on land owned by Captain Carter. The Carter Property was situated near the new cemetery and was a place to congregate before or after a burial. Captain Carter died on Jan. 29, 1882, but his wife, Charlotte Jane Carter, permitted the veterans to continue using the property. Bowie Pelham Camp, No. 572, United Confederate Veterans, was organized in 1895 with over 100 members. The veterans purchased 26.5 acres from Charlotte Carter in 1901 for $450 with stipulations that the property would always be dedicated to veterans, past, present and future. In 1905, a pavilion was built in the park along with three water wells, a barbeque pit, mess house and a long dining shed. Land was paid in full by 1910 and the group grew to over 300 members. Over the years, membership declined and the remaining camp members decided to transfer the property to the city of Bowie, which was finalized on August 14, 1923. On Jan. 6, 1931, the city fathers officially named the park Bowie Pelham Park. The confederate monument located elsewhere in bowie was moved to the park in 1936 as well as the WWI marker. The first Jim Bowie Days celebration and rodeo to promote the community was held in 1967. “Second Monday,” a popular meeting of farmers and ranchers to barter livestock and goods near the railroad tracks, was eventually moved to Pelham Park in 1970. In 1989, the city of Bowie purchased 28 adjoining acres from the Hill Family for expansion of the park to continue the historical and community legacy of Pelham Park.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the years after the Civil War, Confederate veterans around the young town of Bowie gathered on land bought by Captain John J. Carter to reunite, mourn, and remember. In 1901 the Bowie Pelham Camp of United Confederate Veterans purchased acreage that was to be forever dedicated to veterans past, present, and future, building a pavilion, wells, and a dining shed. As the old soldiers died off, the camp deeded the grounds to the city in 1923, and Pelham Park grew into a community gathering place for celebrations, trading days, and rodeos.
Why it matters
The park traces how a Confederate veterans' reunion ground evolved across a century into civic space, showing how communities folded Civil War memory into everyday town life.
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Related people
- · John J. Carter
- · Charlotte Jane Carter
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Salona Cemetery
Montague, TX
Settlers began arriving in the Bethel community in the 1870s, opening the Salona School by 1881 and, in 1889, setting aside land for a burial ground. A Civil War veteran was among the first laid to rest here in 1890, followed by many more, and beginning in 1897 residents gathered each May to tend the graves and share a potluck—a Decoration Day tradition still kept on the first Sunday of May. As the school consolidated and the settlement faded, the cemetery remained the community's living memory.
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