William N. Bowman


William N. Bowman was a prolific architect in Colorado.
He was born in 1868 in Carthage, New York. As the eldest of five children, he had to quit school at age 11 to work in a woolen mill, in order to support the family after his father was injured. Hoping to become an architect and builder, he studied math and drawing at night, at a schoolteacher's home. He first worked at an architect's office in Jackson, Michigan. Detroit architect Col. Elijah E. Myers recommended he do a carpenter's apprenticeship, which he did. He later worked for architects Mortimer L. Smith & Son in Detroit and Thurtle & Fleming in Indianapolis. And then was a member of Rush, Bowman & Rush, a construction firm.
In the main part of his career he worked as an architect in Denver and designed buildings statewide. He designed more than 30 buildings in Denver alone.
He was president of Colorado's chapter of the American Institute of Architects during 1917–1919. He died in 1944 at his home in one of his works, the Norman Apartments in Denver, and was buried
in Fairmount Cemetery.
Notable works include :