When the C&E railway was laying track from Calgary to Edmonton in 1890 they decided that there would be a station every 18 miles with a siding halfway between (these distances are rail miles). Railways hated land speculators and when the speculators were selling land where Bowden was to be located, they changed its location. A school and various businesses sprung up at what was to be Bowden's location before track reached that point. The C&E bypassed the allotted location and moved the station further north. A new town sprung up at the new location and eventually the school and other buildings from the original site moved up to the new Bowden location.
This is why Bowden today is closer to Innisfail than to Olds. It is the only town/village that is out of sequence milage wise between Calgary and Edmonton.
|