During the autumn of 1881 Bowler helped to organize the East End School, the first school for blacks in the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond. On January 1, 1882, he began his life's work as a teacher. With an enrollment of 250 pupils, the four-room structure was Richmond's fourth public elementary school for African American students. Overcrowding soon made additional space imperative, but not until 1889 was a six-room brick building completed. The original building continued in use for classes for the older children. Renovation of nearby frame houses added necessary space for classrooms in 1911, the year that the school was renamed the George Mason School. After construction of additional classrooms in the 1930s the school occupied an entire block.
Bowler began teaching the third grade but soon moved to more advanced classes. Eventually he taught the seventh grade, preparing the students who planned to go on to high school. The school always had white principals, but Bowler's long tenure made him the most prominent member of its all-black faculty. During the 1970s alumni still remembered him with affection and admiration. One recalled that Bowler stood outside the school every morning, his pocket watch in his hand, warning the students to hurry to class. He served the students of the George Mason School for fifty-two years.
On December 22, 1887, Bowler married Eva Flournoy Keene, of Richmond. Of their six children, one son and three daughters reached adulthood. His son J. Andrew Bowler Jr. became a journalist at the Norfolk Journal and Guide. Bowler's salary as a teacher was insufficient for his growing family, and every summer until 1900 he worked as a bellman in northern resort hotels to earn additional income.
In 1933 Bowler's health began to fail, and his congregation hired an assistant to take over some of his duties. A paralytic stroke forced him to retire from the George Mason School the following year. Bowler died in Richmond on October 7, 1935, and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in that city. The superintendent closed Richmond's black schools on the afternoon of Bowler's funeral.
Time Line
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March 1, 1862 - J. Andrew Bowler is born in Richmond, the son of Emily C. Bowler, a slave. His father's identity is unknown.
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1867 - J. Andrew Bowler enters a school in Richmond sponsored by the New England Freedmen's Aid Society.
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1869–1877 - J. Andrew Bowler attends first the Navy Hill School and then the Richmond Colored Normal School.
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1878–1881 - J. Andrew Bowler attends the Richmond Theological Institute (later Virginia Union University).
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Autumn 1881 - J. Andrew Bowler helps to organize the East End School, the first school for blacks in the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond.
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January 1, 1882 - J. Andrew Bowler begins teaching at the East End School in the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond.
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December 22, 1887 - J. Andrew Bowler marries Eva Flournoy Keene, of Richmond.
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1889 - A six-room building is completed and houses the East End School in the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond.
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July 14, 1889 - J. Andrew Bowler becomes a deacon at the First African Baptist Church in Richmond.
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1894 - The First African Baptist Church in Richmond licenses J. Andrew Bowler to preach.
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February 14, 1901 - J. Andrew Bowler is ordained a Baptist minister.
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1911 - The East End School in the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond is renovated, expanded, and renamed the George Mason School.
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1913 - The First African Baptist Church in Richmond purchases land and constructs a brick church building.
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1922 - An addition is added to the First African Baptist Church in Richmond.
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1928 - Virginia Union University acknowledges J. Andrew Bowler's service to the Baptist church with an honorary DD.
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1930s - After the addition of classrooms, the George Mason School occupies an entire block of the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond.
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1933 - The First African Baptist Church in Richmond hires an assistant to take over some of the duties of its pastor, J. Andrew Bowler, whose health is failing.
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October 7, 1935 - J. Andrew Bowler dies in Richmond. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
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July 26, 1948 - The formerly all-white, now all-black Springfield Elementary School in Richmond is renamed the J. Andrew Bowler School.
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September 7, 1948 - J. Andrew Bowler's children and grandchildren unveil a portrait of him at the formal opening of the newly renamed J. Andrew Bowler School in Richmond.
References
Further Reading
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Kneebone, J. T., & the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. J. Andrew Bowler (1862–1935). (2015, September 14). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Bowler_John_Andrew_1862-1935.
- MLA Citation:
Kneebone, John T. and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "J. Andrew Bowler (1862–1935)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 14 Sep. 2015. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: May 29, 2013 | Last modified: September 14, 2015
Contributed by John T. Kneebone and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. John T. Kneebone is associate professor and chair of the history department at Virginia Commonwealth University.