Bow Steet looking East c. 1909


Bow street today. The house to the left and the building on the right (minus the second story) are the only buildings still standing from the early days of Bow.

Click here for a Birds-Eye-View of Bow around 1909.

This web site is under construction, bookmark it now and check back!

Greetings from Bow Washington in Skagit County. The Bow History Project was begun by Dan Miller and Diz Schimke in 2006 when Dan heard a rumor that the oldest building in Bow might be torn down. They engaged the help of local historian Noel V. Bourasaw and called for a meeting in the Community Church. The current owners of the old Crenshaws store came and assured everyone the rumors were not true, but the Bow History Project had taken on a life of its own. Dozens of people came with stories and photographs of the earliest days of Bow. Each year since, a meeting has been held, and more knowledge, some of it almost lost, has turned up.

Last updated 6-10-09

Several people gathered at the Bow Community Church May 23^rd 2009, to share pictures and stories of old Bow.

This is the business known today as Crenshaws, built in 1902. The building is still here and is the oldest standing building in Bow,
and among the oldest in Skagit County.
The second floor was a Hotel and used for community dances and is no longer there.
Crenshaw's is used as the reference point for many other buildings in Bow that no longer exist. It can be seen in many of the photos below.

This is the building as it looks today. Note the iron fencing to the lower right in both photos.

The house known today as Lucys shortly after construction in 1909. Theres that iron fence as it looked brand new!
The house had fallen into disrepair, however, Lucy is currently restoring it.

At the 2008 Bow History Project gathering, a gentleman brought 3 original Darius Kinsey photographs to share with the Project.
This one is of the old Bow Hotel, built in 1902.

Another original Kinsey photo was this one of a mill on the south side of the North Samish waterway.
There is nothing but fields there now where half the town used to be.
The man in the middle of this photo is holding a Kinsey Photo which is now posted on the Whatcom Museum website.

Here`s what the photo looks like.

Unfortunately, not all the original picture could fit on our scanner. Are you curious about the scratch built steam locomotive to the far right of this photo?

Here's a detail of this remarkable engine, (and let us know if you figure out what was used to put it together)!

An archive of 120 Northwest photos by Kinsey are at this University of Washington website.

This Blacksmith shop photo dates from about 1904. It lay on Cedar street facing East.
Just to the right of the open door, you can see the roof of Crenshaws store.
Horse shoes and other iron scraps along with a 1902 Nickel have been found at the site.

The Bow Train Station was built around 1902 when the Great Northern Railroad came through town and made Bow a center for commerce in North Skagit County.

This is Bow street looking West. Notice the old growth forest on the Samish flats which is now all rich farm land.
Also notice in the center of the road is a load of cedar shingles like the one in the next picture.
The vehicle to the far right could be a Stagecoach, or perhaps a horseless carriage?

A load of cedar shingles headed to markets elsewhere.

This cedar stump was somewhere near Bow.

Inside the Bow Post Office on December 27th, 1901.
Nels Iver Peterson is the man on the left.

In front of the Bow Post Office. These Fords are from 1916.

The Livery Stable was next to the Bow Hotel, this photo c. 1900.
The two men with the horses are J.R. Walter and Bob Dale.

The Shadle Meat Market was just West of Crenshaws.

The Howard Shingle Mill around 1885.

Did you see the Birds-Eye-View of Bow around 1909 yet?

Does your family have any old pictures of Bow? We would love to look at them and make copies if we could. You can email them to our address, or, check back here to see when the next Bow History Project meeting will be held. We would love to see you there.
The Bow History Project is also collecting stories from days long ago. Do you know a good one? Or perhaps have an old newspaper clipping? Send it in, we want this web site to GROW!

Here are some related web sites for those interested in the history of Skagit Valley and surrounding areas.
If you dont see your favorite website listed here, please email it to us at bowhistoryproject@yahoo.com
If you have a web site please consider placing a link on it to this site. If you would like a reciprocal link just email us and we would be happy to add yours!

The Skagit River Journal On-Line is the most extensive collection of on-line information on Skagit Valley History.
Here's the Skagit County Museum web site.
The community of nearby Samish Island has a web site here.
Anacortes Museum has its own web site here.
There is a Skagit Valley Genealogical Society which has a web site here. They have their own Newsletter and regular meetings. The site also features a searchable Skagit County obituary Index file.
The history of the Skagit river and its many floods are here with some amazing old photos.
HistoryLink.org features articles from all over Washington State and is designed for students and scholars, like us!
The history of Bow is linked to the history of Bellingham, just a short train ride up the tracks.
Before white settlers there was the Samish Tribe.
Information on the history of the Great Northern Railroad here.
Washington states Chuckanut drive web site.
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