Ben Dowell was a person who clearly had a spirit for adventure. He was the 5th of 12 children of James Board Dowell (1791-1860), born in Virginia, and Barbara Shacklett Dowell (1794-1874), born in Pennsylvania. Ben was born and raised on the family farm there in Stith Valley, located just a few miles south of Brandenburg, an old riverport town on the mighty Ohio River in what is today Meade County, Kentucky. Note that Meade County was not formed until 1823. This quiet and small valley where the Dowell family lived is little changed today, still used for farming and raising cattle.
In 1838, Ben married Melvina B. Stith, a neighbor girl. Stith Valley was named for Melvina's ancestors.
In June of 1846 in Louisville, Kentucky, Ben signed up as a volunteer for the U. S. - Mexican War (1846-1848) and brought a horse as well as $20.00 worth of equipment. He enlisted as a private and was assigned to Captain Aaron Pennington's Company G in Colonel Humphrey Marshall's 1st Regiment, Kentucky Cavalry. The following year Ben was with a group that were captured and held for eight months in Mexico City in very poor conditions without adequate food and water. It was during this time Ben's hair turned white. Ben survived this tough period though, and upon his release from military service, claimed 160 acres of bounty land, a compensation for his military service. By this time he knew that he wanted to live out West. Melvina however, did not want to leave her family and familiar life in Kentucky, so they divorced. She later married George H. Miles, a farmer and operator of a dry goods store.
The above mentioned U. S. - Mexican War (1846-1848) seems little remembered today when compared to how it dramatically increased the size of our country. By winning the war and the resulting treaty, the U. S. acquired for $21 million (just half of what it previously offered), what is today California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming.
By about 1850, Ben Dowell was in Franklin City, Texas, working as a supervisor in vineyards. Franklin City was named by Benjamin Franklin Coontz when he was serving there as the first postmaster. At that time the old Mexican city located directly across the Rio Grande River was called El Paso del Norte or just El Paso. Franklin City changed its name to El Paso in 1859 and El Paso del Norte, Mexico adopted the name Ciudad Juarez and is now commonly referred to as Juarez, Mexico.
Ben Dowell's best friend, William M. "Bill" Ford was elected sheriff in 1852. He appointed Ben as deputy the following year.
Ben Dowell married Juana Marquez, a full-blooded Tigua Indian. The wedding took place about 1852 or 1853 at Concordia, Texas with the Judge Rufus Doane officiating. Juana could not converse in English, but could understand it.
Ben, Juana and Bill Ford next headed west to Los Angeles, California. They traveled with a wagon train, which greatly reduced the danger of attack by Indians or outlaws. Ben and Juana's daughter Mary was born in Los Angeles in 1854, where Ben and Bill had found work in housing construction. The 1849 California gold rush, which had drawn people from all over the world, had died down considerably. Dowell and Ford determined that most gold prospectors by then were unsuccessful. They also felt the town was too dangerous and lawless with fights, lynching, robberies and murders being a common occurrence. So Ben, Bill and their families decided to returned to Texas. On their journey back they camped at Cooke's Springs, located a few miles east of the present day Arizona state line in southern New Mexico. While the adults were busy with breakfast a coyote grabbed their baby Mary by the clothing and ran off with her. Ben heard the baby cry and picked up his gun and shot and killed the coyote. Juana quickly retrieved their baby from where the coyote had fallen. Back in Texas by 1855, Ben purchased land (one lot) in Franklin in 1857 where he operated his saloon, general store, post office and residence from a thick-walled adobe building. Dowell's saloon included a bar, a billiard table, as well as an area for poker and other gambling. Later Ben had a hotel and operated a stagecoach stand. It was mentioned Ben was also a wheelwright and wagon builder. A year later, Ben and Bill would buy the lot to the north. Ben would later purchase 3,000 acres of prime land located about 8 miles north in the Rio Grande Valley where he raised the beef he butchered to supply the army post on a contract basis. It is mentioned that Ben was also a surveyor.
In 1855, a Franklin City business had its safe robbed and Ben Dowell had several horses stolen. Evidence pointed to two men, William Gifford and Blair McElroy, as being responsible. McElroy was known to have killed two men in California. It became common knowledge that Ben Dowell wanted to get even. Ben's old friend Bill Ford owned a saloon about 20 miles south of Franklin City where he had overheard McElroy planning to head to Ben Dowell's saloon to rob and kill him by shooting him when Ben turned his back to serve them drinks. Bill quickly sent a fast rider to warn Ben. Ford's plan worked, as Dowell and his friend Albert Kuhn were waiting and shot McElroy dead when he came through the door of Ben's saloon. A newspaper article of the event noted that McElroy was the third safe robber that had been killed in Franklin City.
Border towns like El Paso held a fascination for gunfighters. There was plenty of opportunity for them to test their skills, and if you happened to be on the run, the relative safety of Mexico was just across the Rio Grande River with very little law along the border. Another escape for outlaws was was the vast and uncharted lawless territory of New Mexico located only 10 miles to the north. Ben Dowell's saloon, as the town's most popular gathering place, was the scene of many shooting incidents. In March 1858, Tom Smith, a gambler, killed Dr. Frank Giddings at the saloon. The accused murderer fled to Mexico. Occasionally, a shooting was "accidental." W. W. Mills witnessed a bystander killed in the saloon when one gambler aimed at another and missed. The coroner's jury ruled it purely accidental, extending sympathy to the man whose aim had been so poor as to miss his target. No one paid much attention to the victim.
Stagecoaches rolled by Ben Dowell's saloon, and it is mentioned that he ran a stagecoach stand at his hotel. Following the California gold rush in 1849, the quickly growing population living on the west coast was demanding faster mail service and cheaper freight. They felt cut off from the rest of the country. For instance, a mail route from San Antonio, Texas to San Diego, California required 50 to 60 days. Trains could cover the distance in a fraction of the time, but it would be years before railroad lines would span from the Midwest to California. So, in April 1857, the United States Postal Department requested bids for a mail route from St. Louis, Missouri to San Francisco, California. The route, then the longest mail route in the world, would go through the southwest and each one-way trip was not to exceed 25 days. Though longer than a Midwest route, a southwest route would be snow free. Franklin City (later named El Paso), Texas would become the largest stop and the halfway point on the route. The mail contract was awarded to John Butterfield (1801-1869), owner of the respected Overland Mail Company. Stagecoaches would be used because they could also haul passengers and freight for added revenue. In an amazing feat, within one year, and under threat of Indian attack, surveyors and road crews built some 200 stations located approximately every 20 miles, dug water wells, modified banks at river crossings, constructed roads through passes, and built bridges along the route that would extend more than 3,000 miles. The route would soon be known as the "Butterfield Trail." Ben Dowell's granddaughter stated that Ben was employed by the Butterfield Company. This stagecoach mail route would employ nearly 1,500 men and women as drivers, station keepers, cooks, blacksmiths, mechanics, harness makers and veterinarians, requiring nearly 250 coaches and freight wagons, and more than 1,000 horses and mules. [It was said that Ben Dowell was also a wheelwright and wagon maker.] The two types of stagecoaches used on this trail were assembled by three of the leading coach builders in the country. Heavy and sturdy, they were finest available. And they had to be to handle these rough trails and heavy loads of freight and passengers. There were possible dangers on this trail. As a result, the driver was accompanied on top of the stage by an armed guard. Being robbed by outlaws was a possibility in certain areas, but most felt the biggest danger was attack by Indians. In fact, from Fort Belknap, Texas to Fort Yuma, California, a distance of 1,100 miles, was considered dangerous Indian country. In Quitman Canyon, located southeast of El Paso, there were two incidents, the last being in 1881, of Indians attacking stagecoaches and killing those on the stage. Passenger fares on the Butterfield Trail were $150.00 for a full length one-way trip, or ten cents a mile for shorter trips. Each passenger was allowed 40 lbs. of luggage. A fresh team of 4 to 6 horses or mules was ready at each station. The stages traveled day and night, stopping only to change teams and when passengers ate. Very successful, this stagecoach mail route on the Butterfield Trail ran until it was replaced by trains in 1869.
The 1860 Federal Census lists Ben Dowell as B. S. Dowell in El Paso, Texas with a real estate value of $5,000 and personal estate valued at $3,000.
Sometime in 1860, Ben Dowell, wife Juana and daughter Mary traveled back to Kentucky to visit his relatives. Before they left, Ben made sure that his brother Nim (Nehemiah) would oversee his many business affairs should he die on the trip. They traveled to San Antonio with a mule train. The Dowells had a closed wagon with a bed and another wagon with food, supplies and a French cook. They next took a stagecoach to Houston, then to the Gulf on the only railway then in Texas. At Galveston a coach accident killed two people, but the Dowell family was not injured. At New Orleans, they took the steamboat Natchez up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to Kentucky. Ben had a wonderful time visiting, but Juana, unable to speak the language, felt like an outsider. Ben's sister, Susan Jane, her husband Burnis B. Shacklett and their four children traveled back to El Paso with them. Susan wrote, "In April 1860 we left our native land [Kentucky], taking the boat Montgomery and with the captain by the same name, we down the river from Rochester. There was a storm near Paducah we laid over there until they could repair the boat. We went on to New Orleans and stopped there two days and nights. Then we crossed the river and took the train for the bay. There we boarded the ship for Port Lavaca. We were on the ship two days and nights. We landed at Galveston for a while. We stayed at Port Lavaca several days waiting for our goods to be unloaded. Then we hitched our wagons and started out by land for El Paso, Texas, eight hundred miles away. We went by way of San Antonio. We camped there for one week on account of the hot weather and mosquitoes. We went on three hundred miles west on Turkey Creek. We camped there for a month, waiting for a train of wagons. We could not travel any further alone on account of danger of Indians. We traveled at night because the Indians were hostile and water so scarce. It was forty miles from one watering place to another. We carried water in kegs for the family but the poor mules had to do without. Stopping at the watering places we would rest and cook enough food to do us until the next stop. The children were very scared of the Indians. We could see them at distance watching us closely, but due to the large number of well armed men in the wagon train they did not attack us. We got to El Paso on August 15th or near that time."
Note: According to Susan's story, this amazing journey covered about 2,000 miles from their home in Kentucky to Texas and required about 4 months!
During the (American) Civil War (1861-1865), Dowell aided the Confederacy with supplies early on, achieving the rank of Captain. When Union troops took charge of El Paso, Dowell's family fled across the border to Mexico. It was during this time that Ben lost much of his possessions. Dowell's family returned to El Paso after the war and steadily gained back their holdings.
Moses Carson 1792-1868, was a frontiersman and scout as was his more famous half-brother Kit Carson. During the American Civil War, Moses served as a civilian scout, spy and courier for the Confederacy operating out of New Mexico and later Franklin (El Paso), Texas. It has been determined Moses Carson is buried in Concordia Cemetery in El Paso. (Findagrave memorial for Moses Carson)
In 1873, Ben Dowell became the first duly elected Mayor of El Paso, Texas. Ben's hair and beard had turned white at an early age. This, along with his common sense wisdom and accomplishments, are thought to be the reasons he was also known as Uncle Ben Dowell.
Horse racing was, in many cases, the most popular spectator event in the Old West and large amounts of money, valuables, livestock, or property could be wagered at these events. Some of these races in El Paso were well promoted and drew people from a wide area. The racetrack went down Overland Street to where it intersected with El Paso Street. Ben was the owner of several of the most successful and well known racehorses in the El Paso area at that time and advertised in New Mexico newspapers that he would race his horse, Kit, a mare, a quarter mile against any horse for $2,000.00. Kit's most famous race was against Fly, a large thoroughbred said to be of Arabian stock, owned by Mr. Maxwell of New Mexico. Maxwell met the challenge and the race between Kit and Fly took place in El Paso on January 26, 1872, when people came from as far as Sante Fe and Chihuahua to place bets. One witness calculated as much as $25,000.00 changed hands that day. Fly took the early lead. Following Dowell's instructions, Kit's rider held her back until the halfway point marked by a row of trees. Then he let her go. Kit won by about 15 feet. Maxwell was in disbelief that Fly had been defeated. Later, a Dutchman came through El Paso with a horse he said had never been beaten. The Dutchman lost all his money when Kit won. Competitors came from California, New Mexico and Colorado, but none could outrun Kit. In fact, Kit never lost a race and was so renowned that her death was reported in the Sante Fe Daily New Mexican on July 16, 1875.
Mormon missionary Daniel W. Jones stated that a group of ruffians tried to take over the town of El Paso in September of 1875. At the time, Ben Dowell was Marshall. Somehow the outlaws were arrested and found guilty of first-degree murder. Ben was one of those ordered by the court to carry out the sentence, shoot the murderers to death. Dowell and others shot four of the condemned men in the street in front of the main saloon and had them properly buried. The missionary never heard any complaint about the court's orders or the sentence, but then again, Judge Jones and Ben Dowell were very much respected by citizens of the region.
In September of 1876, Billy the Kid came through El Paso on his way to San Elizario, Texas and stopped briefly at Ben Dowell's saloon. Billy was planning to break his friend out of jail in San Elizario. (Leon C. Metz, "El Paso Chronicles: A Record of Historical Events in El Paso, Texas," 1993.)
Pat Garrett, the man credited with killing Billy the Kid, mentions Ben Dowell's saloon in his autobiography.
Accounts of Ben Dowell's amazing life can be found in several books including C. L. Sonnichsen's book entitled, "Pass of The North, Four Centuries on the Rio Grande," Vol. 1, 1968, and "Forty Years in El Paso" by W. W. Mills, 1962. Another very interesting book was written specifically about Ben's life by Nancy Hamilton and entitled, "Ben Dowell, El Paso's First Mayor," 1976. Another book that mentions Ben Dowell is called "Legendary Watering Holes: The Saloons That Made Texas Famous," Texas A & M Press, 2004, has a chapter dedicated to Ben Dowell and his saloon by writer Nancy Hamilton.
The El Paso Board of Education recognized Ben Dowell's daughter, Mary, as one of El Paso's pioneer teachers, and Ben Dowell as one of the town's early leaders when Dowell Elementary School was opened in 1959 and is located at 5249 Bastille Avenue in northeast El Paso, Texas.
On the television series "Death Valley Days," actor Marshall Thompson portrayed Mayor Ben Dowell in an episode entitled, "The Streets of El Paso" which aired May 5, 1964.
Famed Old West writer Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) wrote about Ben Dowell and his saloon in L'Amour's book, "The Sackett Brand." In this book (chapter 9) a brief scene involves a poker game occurring one night in Uncle Ben Dowell's saloon in El Paso with some of the characters engaging in conversation with Ben Dowell. [Louis L'Amour, "The Sackett Brand," Bantam Books, New York, New York, 1965.] As of 2010, Louis L'Amour's stories and more than 125 books have sold more than 320 million copies and have been turned into 45 Hollywood films and television movies including "Hondo" starring John Wayne. His novels Hondo and Flint are on the list of the 25 best Western Novels of all time.
Ben Dowell and Juana Marquez Dowell had five children;
1. Mary Dowell, born Oct. 30, 1854 in Los Angeles, California. Died in December of 1951 at the age of 97. Burial in Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. Mary was a pioneer school teacher in El Paso. Dowell Elementary School on Bastille Street in El Paso was dedicated to Mary and her father. Mary married Warner Phillips, a man from Missouri who was 20 years her senior. Warner served as county commissioner. He and Mary had the only dairy farm in the area. They were the parents of five children, the first being Benjamin Dowell Phillips who had two sons, Dr. Benjamin A. Phillips, a chemical engineer, who, besides being a chief of the Liquid Propellants Branch at White Sands Missile Range, held patents on several inventions related to refrigeration, and Dr. Joseph T. Phillips, staff member of the University of Texas Medical Branch.
Mary's husband, Warner Phillips, died in 1887. Mary was next married to Gaudencio Prieto. This marriage produced two children.
2. John (occasionally shown as Juan) R. Dowell, born in Ysleta, Texas Aug. 12, 1862 and died Feb. 3, 1916. John married Lucia G., last name unknown at this time. John is buried at Concordia Cemetery in El Paso, Texas. His grave is marked with a large headstone simply inscribed, "Dowell."
3. Nehemiah "Nim" Dowell, born in El Paso, Apr. 24, 1866.
4. Elijah "Lige" Dowell, born in El Paso ca. 1868. Elijah died in New Mexico in 1920. Further information from the 1900 Federal Census shows an Elijah Dowell, age 31, Mexican male, single, who was then an inmate at the Huntsville Penitentiary. The reasons for his imprisonment and year he was incarcerated was not shown. His occupation was cowboy and his date of birth was April 1869. He was born in Texas, his father was born in Kentucky, and his mother was born in Texas. Unlike many of his fellow inmates listed as Mexican, Elijah could read, write, and speak English. (Note that it has been stated that two of Ben Dowell's sons had scrapes with the law which possibly included cattle rustling. Maybe that is how Elijah Dowell landed in jail?)
5. Richard Dowell, born in El Paso in 1875. Richard married a girl named Refugio. They moved to Mexico. No other information.
Ben S. Dowell died on Nov. 8, 1880 at his residence in El Paso and was buried the following day at the Masonic Cemetery. It is said that Ben died of pneumonia following his repair of an irrigation ditch. Ben was later reburied when the cemetery was moved to Concordia Cemetery in 1881. Juana Dowell died in early 1891, and reported to have first been buried at Ysleta and reburied at Concordia Cemetery. Family members have been unable to locate either of their graves.
Ben felt that when the railroad arrived in their town the landowners and merchants would become rich. When Ben died, the railroad was just 6 months away from bringing rail service to El Paso.
Trade tokens were used by several early El Paso businesses. Two or three styles mention the Ben Dowell Saloon with one showing, "B. Dowell Saloon" on one side and "El Paso" on the other side.
Today, a plaque on the wall of the Camino Real Hotel in El Paso, Texas reads, "A City Is Born - On this site with Butterfield Stages rumbling by, stood a saloon operated by Ben S. Dowell who became the first mayor of El Paso on August 15, 1873....From this inauspicious beginning grew a great city at this pass of the north a crossroads of the Western Hemisphere....
In 1838, Ben married Melvina B. Stith, a neighbor girl. Stith Valley was named for Melvina's ancestors.
In June of 1846 in Louisville, Kentucky, Ben signed up as a volunteer for the U. S. - Mexican War (1846-1848) and brought a horse as well as $20.00 worth of equipment. He enlisted as a private and was assigned to Captain Aaron Pennington's Company G in Colonel Humphrey Marshall's 1st Regiment, Kentucky Cavalry. The following year Ben was with a group that were captured and held for eight months in Mexico City in very poor conditions without adequate food and water. It was during this time Ben's hair turned white. Ben survived this tough period though, and upon his release from military service, claimed 160 acres of bounty land, a compensation for his military service. By this time he knew that he wanted to live out West. Melvina however, did not want to leave her family and familiar life in Kentucky, so they divorced. She later married George H. Miles, a farmer and operator of a dry goods store.
The above mentioned U. S. - Mexican War (1846-1848) seems little remembered today when compared to how it dramatically increased the size of our country. By winning the war and the resulting treaty, the U. S. acquired for $21 million (just half of what it previously offered), what is today California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming.
By about 1850, Ben Dowell was in Franklin City, Texas, working as a supervisor in vineyards. Franklin City was named by Benjamin Franklin Coontz when he was serving there as the first postmaster. At that time the old Mexican city located directly across the Rio Grande River was called El Paso del Norte or just El Paso. Franklin City changed its name to El Paso in 1859 and El Paso del Norte, Mexico adopted the name Ciudad Juarez and is now commonly referred to as Juarez, Mexico.
Ben Dowell's best friend, William M. "Bill" Ford was elected sheriff in 1852. He appointed Ben as deputy the following year.
Ben Dowell married Juana Marquez, a full-blooded Tigua Indian. The wedding took place about 1852 or 1853 at Concordia, Texas with the Judge Rufus Doane officiating. Juana could not converse in English, but could understand it.
Ben, Juana and Bill Ford next headed west to Los Angeles, California. They traveled with a wagon train, which greatly reduced the danger of attack by Indians or outlaws. Ben and Juana's daughter Mary was born in Los Angeles in 1854, where Ben and Bill had found work in housing construction. The 1849 California gold rush, which had drawn people from all over the world, had died down considerably. Dowell and Ford determined that most gold prospectors by then were unsuccessful. They also felt the town was too dangerous and lawless with fights, lynching, robberies and murders being a common occurrence. So Ben, Bill and their families decided to returned to Texas. On their journey back they camped at Cooke's Springs, located a few miles east of the present day Arizona state line in southern New Mexico. While the adults were busy with breakfast a coyote grabbed their baby Mary by the clothing and ran off with her. Ben heard the baby cry and picked up his gun and shot and killed the coyote. Juana quickly retrieved their baby from where the coyote had fallen. Back in Texas by 1855, Ben purchased land (one lot) in Franklin in 1857 where he operated his saloon, general store, post office and residence from a thick-walled adobe building. Dowell's saloon included a bar, a billiard table, as well as an area for poker and other gambling. Later Ben had a hotel and operated a stagecoach stand. It was mentioned Ben was also a wheelwright and wagon builder. A year later, Ben and Bill would buy the lot to the north. Ben would later purchase 3,000 acres of prime land located about 8 miles north in the Rio Grande Valley where he raised the beef he butchered to supply the army post on a contract basis. It is mentioned that Ben was also a surveyor.
In 1855, a Franklin City business had its safe robbed and Ben Dowell had several horses stolen. Evidence pointed to two men, William Gifford and Blair McElroy, as being responsible. McElroy was known to have killed two men in California. It became common knowledge that Ben Dowell wanted to get even. Ben's old friend Bill Ford owned a saloon about 20 miles south of Franklin City where he had overheard McElroy planning to head to Ben Dowell's saloon to rob and kill him by shooting him when Ben turned his back to serve them drinks. Bill quickly sent a fast rider to warn Ben. Ford's plan worked, as Dowell and his friend Albert Kuhn were waiting and shot McElroy dead when he came through the door of Ben's saloon. A newspaper article of the event noted that McElroy was the third safe robber that had been killed in Franklin City.
Border towns like El Paso held a fascination for gunfighters. There was plenty of opportunity for them to test their skills, and if you happened to be on the run, the relative safety of Mexico was just across the Rio Grande River with very little law along the border. Another escape for outlaws was was the vast and uncharted lawless territory of New Mexico located only 10 miles to the north. Ben Dowell's saloon, as the town's most popular gathering place, was the scene of many shooting incidents. In March 1858, Tom Smith, a gambler, killed Dr. Frank Giddings at the saloon. The accused murderer fled to Mexico. Occasionally, a shooting was "accidental." W. W. Mills witnessed a bystander killed in the saloon when one gambler aimed at another and missed. The coroner's jury ruled it purely accidental, extending sympathy to the man whose aim had been so poor as to miss his target. No one paid much attention to the victim.
Stagecoaches rolled by Ben Dowell's saloon, and it is mentioned that he ran a stagecoach stand at his hotel. Following the California gold rush in 1849, the quickly growing population living on the west coast was demanding faster mail service and cheaper freight. They felt cut off from the rest of the country. For instance, a mail route from San Antonio, Texas to San Diego, California required 50 to 60 days. Trains could cover the distance in a fraction of the time, but it would be years before railroad lines would span from the Midwest to California. So, in April 1857, the United States Postal Department requested bids for a mail route from St. Louis, Missouri to San Francisco, California. The route, then the longest mail route in the world, would go through the southwest and each one-way trip was not to exceed 25 days. Though longer than a Midwest route, a southwest route would be snow free. Franklin City (later named El Paso), Texas would become the largest stop and the halfway point on the route. The mail contract was awarded to John Butterfield (1801-1869), owner of the respected Overland Mail Company. Stagecoaches would be used because they could also haul passengers and freight for added revenue. In an amazing feat, within one year, and under threat of Indian attack, surveyors and road crews built some 200 stations located approximately every 20 miles, dug water wells, modified banks at river crossings, constructed roads through passes, and built bridges along the route that would extend more than 3,000 miles. The route would soon be known as the "Butterfield Trail." Ben Dowell's granddaughter stated that Ben was employed by the Butterfield Company. This stagecoach mail route would employ nearly 1,500 men and women as drivers, station keepers, cooks, blacksmiths, mechanics, harness makers and veterinarians, requiring nearly 250 coaches and freight wagons, and more than 1,000 horses and mules. [It was said that Ben Dowell was also a wheelwright and wagon maker.] The two types of stagecoaches used on this trail were assembled by three of the leading coach builders in the country. Heavy and sturdy, they were finest available. And they had to be to handle these rough trails and heavy loads of freight and passengers. There were possible dangers on this trail. As a result, the driver was accompanied on top of the stage by an armed guard. Being robbed by outlaws was a possibility in certain areas, but most felt the biggest danger was attack by Indians. In fact, from Fort Belknap, Texas to Fort Yuma, California, a distance of 1,100 miles, was considered dangerous Indian country. In Quitman Canyon, located southeast of El Paso, there were two incidents, the last being in 1881, of Indians attacking stagecoaches and killing those on the stage. Passenger fares on the Butterfield Trail were $150.00 for a full length one-way trip, or ten cents a mile for shorter trips. Each passenger was allowed 40 lbs. of luggage. A fresh team of 4 to 6 horses or mules was ready at each station. The stages traveled day and night, stopping only to change teams and when passengers ate. Very successful, this stagecoach mail route on the Butterfield Trail ran until it was replaced by trains in 1869.
The 1860 Federal Census lists Ben Dowell as B. S. Dowell in El Paso, Texas with a real estate value of $5,000 and personal estate valued at $3,000.
Sometime in 1860, Ben Dowell, wife Juana and daughter Mary traveled back to Kentucky to visit his relatives. Before they left, Ben made sure that his brother Nim (Nehemiah) would oversee his many business affairs should he die on the trip. They traveled to San Antonio with a mule train. The Dowells had a closed wagon with a bed and another wagon with food, supplies and a French cook. They next took a stagecoach to Houston, then to the Gulf on the only railway then in Texas. At Galveston a coach accident killed two people, but the Dowell family was not injured. At New Orleans, they took the steamboat Natchez up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to Kentucky. Ben had a wonderful time visiting, but Juana, unable to speak the language, felt like an outsider. Ben's sister, Susan Jane, her husband Burnis B. Shacklett and their four children traveled back to El Paso with them. Susan wrote, "In April 1860 we left our native land [Kentucky], taking the boat Montgomery and with the captain by the same name, we down the river from Rochester. There was a storm near Paducah we laid over there until they could repair the boat. We went on to New Orleans and stopped there two days and nights. Then we crossed the river and took the train for the bay. There we boarded the ship for Port Lavaca. We were on the ship two days and nights. We landed at Galveston for a while. We stayed at Port Lavaca several days waiting for our goods to be unloaded. Then we hitched our wagons and started out by land for El Paso, Texas, eight hundred miles away. We went by way of San Antonio. We camped there for one week on account of the hot weather and mosquitoes. We went on three hundred miles west on Turkey Creek. We camped there for a month, waiting for a train of wagons. We could not travel any further alone on account of danger of Indians. We traveled at night because the Indians were hostile and water so scarce. It was forty miles from one watering place to another. We carried water in kegs for the family but the poor mules had to do without. Stopping at the watering places we would rest and cook enough food to do us until the next stop. The children were very scared of the Indians. We could see them at distance watching us closely, but due to the large number of well armed men in the wagon train they did not attack us. We got to El Paso on August 15th or near that time."
Note: According to Susan's story, this amazing journey covered about 2,000 miles from their home in Kentucky to Texas and required about 4 months!
During the (American) Civil War (1861-1865), Dowell aided the Confederacy with supplies early on, achieving the rank of Captain. When Union troops took charge of El Paso, Dowell's family fled across the border to Mexico. It was during this time that Ben lost much of his possessions. Dowell's family returned to El Paso after the war and steadily gained back their holdings.
Moses Carson 1792-1868, was a frontiersman and scout as was his more famous half-brother Kit Carson. During the American Civil War, Moses served as a civilian scout, spy and courier for the Confederacy operating out of New Mexico and later Franklin (El Paso), Texas. It has been determined Moses Carson is buried in Concordia Cemetery in El Paso. (Findagrave memorial for Moses Carson)
In 1873, Ben Dowell became the first duly elected Mayor of El Paso, Texas. Ben's hair and beard had turned white at an early age. This, along with his common sense wisdom and accomplishments, are thought to be the reasons he was also known as Uncle Ben Dowell.
Horse racing was, in many cases, the most popular spectator event in the Old West and large amounts of money, valuables, livestock, or property could be wagered at these events. Some of these races in El Paso were well promoted and drew people from a wide area. The racetrack went down Overland Street to where it intersected with El Paso Street. Ben was the owner of several of the most successful and well known racehorses in the El Paso area at that time and advertised in New Mexico newspapers that he would race his horse, Kit, a mare, a quarter mile against any horse for $2,000.00. Kit's most famous race was against Fly, a large thoroughbred said to be of Arabian stock, owned by Mr. Maxwell of New Mexico. Maxwell met the challenge and the race between Kit and Fly took place in El Paso on January 26, 1872, when people came from as far as Sante Fe and Chihuahua to place bets. One witness calculated as much as $25,000.00 changed hands that day. Fly took the early lead. Following Dowell's instructions, Kit's rider held her back until the halfway point marked by a row of trees. Then he let her go. Kit won by about 15 feet. Maxwell was in disbelief that Fly had been defeated. Later, a Dutchman came through El Paso with a horse he said had never been beaten. The Dutchman lost all his money when Kit won. Competitors came from California, New Mexico and Colorado, but none could outrun Kit. In fact, Kit never lost a race and was so renowned that her death was reported in the Sante Fe Daily New Mexican on July 16, 1875.
Mormon missionary Daniel W. Jones stated that a group of ruffians tried to take over the town of El Paso in September of 1875. At the time, Ben Dowell was Marshall. Somehow the outlaws were arrested and found guilty of first-degree murder. Ben was one of those ordered by the court to carry out the sentence, shoot the murderers to death. Dowell and others shot four of the condemned men in the street in front of the main saloon and had them properly buried. The missionary never heard any complaint about the court's orders or the sentence, but then again, Judge Jones and Ben Dowell were very much respected by citizens of the region.
In September of 1876, Billy the Kid came through El Paso on his way to San Elizario, Texas and stopped briefly at Ben Dowell's saloon. Billy was planning to break his friend out of jail in San Elizario. (Leon C. Metz, "El Paso Chronicles: A Record of Historical Events in El Paso, Texas," 1993.)
Pat Garrett, the man credited with killing Billy the Kid, mentions Ben Dowell's saloon in his autobiography.
Accounts of Ben Dowell's amazing life can be found in several books including C. L. Sonnichsen's book entitled, "Pass of The North, Four Centuries on the Rio Grande," Vol. 1, 1968, and "Forty Years in El Paso" by W. W. Mills, 1962. Another very interesting book was written specifically about Ben's life by Nancy Hamilton and entitled, "Ben Dowell, El Paso's First Mayor," 1976. Another book that mentions Ben Dowell is called "Legendary Watering Holes: The Saloons That Made Texas Famous," Texas A & M Press, 2004, has a chapter dedicated to Ben Dowell and his saloon by writer Nancy Hamilton.
The El Paso Board of Education recognized Ben Dowell's daughter, Mary, as one of El Paso's pioneer teachers, and Ben Dowell as one of the town's early leaders when Dowell Elementary School was opened in 1959 and is located at 5249 Bastille Avenue in northeast El Paso, Texas.
On the television series "Death Valley Days," actor Marshall Thompson portrayed Mayor Ben Dowell in an episode entitled, "The Streets of El Paso" which aired May 5, 1964.
Famed Old West writer Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) wrote about Ben Dowell and his saloon in L'Amour's book, "The Sackett Brand." In this book (chapter 9) a brief scene involves a poker game occurring one night in Uncle Ben Dowell's saloon in El Paso with some of the characters engaging in conversation with Ben Dowell. [Louis L'Amour, "The Sackett Brand," Bantam Books, New York, New York, 1965.] As of 2010, Louis L'Amour's stories and more than 125 books have sold more than 320 million copies and have been turned into 45 Hollywood films and television movies including "Hondo" starring John Wayne. His novels Hondo and Flint are on the list of the 25 best Western Novels of all time.
Ben Dowell and Juana Marquez Dowell had five children;
1. Mary Dowell, born Oct. 30, 1854 in Los Angeles, California. Died in December of 1951 at the age of 97. Burial in Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. Mary was a pioneer school teacher in El Paso. Dowell Elementary School on Bastille Street in El Paso was dedicated to Mary and her father. Mary married Warner Phillips, a man from Missouri who was 20 years her senior. Warner served as county commissioner. He and Mary had the only dairy farm in the area. They were the parents of five children, the first being Benjamin Dowell Phillips who had two sons, Dr. Benjamin A. Phillips, a chemical engineer, who, besides being a chief of the Liquid Propellants Branch at White Sands Missile Range, held patents on several inventions related to refrigeration, and Dr. Joseph T. Phillips, staff member of the University of Texas Medical Branch.
Mary's husband, Warner Phillips, died in 1887. Mary was next married to Gaudencio Prieto. This marriage produced two children.
2. John (occasionally shown as Juan) R. Dowell, born in Ysleta, Texas Aug. 12, 1862 and died Feb. 3, 1916. John married Lucia G., last name unknown at this time. John is buried at Concordia Cemetery in El Paso, Texas. His grave is marked with a large headstone simply inscribed, "Dowell."
3. Nehemiah "Nim" Dowell, born in El Paso, Apr. 24, 1866.
4. Elijah "Lige" Dowell, born in El Paso ca. 1868. Elijah died in New Mexico in 1920. Further information from the 1900 Federal Census shows an Elijah Dowell, age 31, Mexican male, single, who was then an inmate at the Huntsville Penitentiary. The reasons for his imprisonment and year he was incarcerated was not shown. His occupation was cowboy and his date of birth was April 1869. He was born in Texas, his father was born in Kentucky, and his mother was born in Texas. Unlike many of his fellow inmates listed as Mexican, Elijah could read, write, and speak English. (Note that it has been stated that two of Ben Dowell's sons had scrapes with the law which possibly included cattle rustling. Maybe that is how Elijah Dowell landed in jail?)
5. Richard Dowell, born in El Paso in 1875. Richard married a girl named Refugio. They moved to Mexico. No other information.
Ben S. Dowell died on Nov. 8, 1880 at his residence in El Paso and was buried the following day at the Masonic Cemetery. It is said that Ben died of pneumonia following his repair of an irrigation ditch. Ben was later reburied when the cemetery was moved to Concordia Cemetery in 1881. Juana Dowell died in early 1891, and reported to have first been buried at Ysleta and reburied at Concordia Cemetery. Family members have been unable to locate either of their graves.
Ben felt that when the railroad arrived in their town the landowners and merchants would become rich. When Ben died, the railroad was just 6 months away from bringing rail service to El Paso.
Trade tokens were used by several early El Paso businesses. Two or three styles mention the Ben Dowell Saloon with one showing, "B. Dowell Saloon" on one side and "El Paso" on the other side.
Today, a plaque on the wall of the Camino Real Hotel in El Paso, Texas reads, "A City Is Born - On this site with Butterfield Stages rumbling by, stood a saloon operated by Ben S. Dowell who became the first mayor of El Paso on August 15, 1873....From this inauspicious beginning grew a great city at this pass of the north a crossroads of the Western Hemisphere....
Ben Dowell was a person who clearly had a spirit for adventure. He was the 5th of 12 children of James Board Dowell (1791-1860), born in Virginia, and Barbara Shacklett Dowell (1794-1874), born in Pennsylvania. Ben was born and raised on the family farm there in Stith Valley, located just a few miles south of Brandenburg, an old riverport town on the mighty Ohio River in what is today Meade County, Kentucky. Note that Meade County was not formed until 1823. This quiet and small valley where the Dowell family lived is little changed today, still used for farming and raising cattle.
In 1838, Ben married Melvina B. Stith, a neighbor girl. Stith Valley was named for Melvina's ancestors.
In June of 1846 in Louisville, Kentucky, Ben signed up as a volunteer for the U. S. - Mexican War (1846-1848) and brought a horse as well as $20.00 worth of equipment. He enlisted as a private and was assigned to Captain Aaron Pennington's Company G in Colonel Humphrey Marshall's 1st Regiment, Kentucky Cavalry. The following year Ben was with a group that were captured and held for eight months in Mexico City in very poor conditions without adequate food and water. It was during this time Ben's hair turned white. Ben survived this tough period though, and upon his release from military service, claimed 160 acres of bounty land, a compensation for his military service. By this time he knew that he wanted to live out West. Melvina however, did not want to leave her family and familiar life in Kentucky, so they divorced. She later married George H. Miles, a farmer and operator of a dry goods store.
The above mentioned U. S. - Mexican War (1846-1848) seems little remembered today when compared to how it dramatically increased the size of our country. By winning the war and the resulting treaty, the U. S. acquired for $21 million (just half of what it previously offered), what is today California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming.
By about 1850, Ben Dowell was in Franklin City, Texas, working as a supervisor in vineyards. Franklin City was named by Benjamin Franklin Coontz when he was serving there as the first postmaster. At that time the old Mexican city located directly across the Rio Grande River was called El Paso del Norte or just El Paso. Franklin City changed its name to El Paso in 1859 and El Paso del Norte, Mexico adopted the name Ciudad Juarez and is now commonly referred to as Juarez, Mexico.
Ben Dowell's best friend, William M. "Bill" Ford was elected sheriff in 1852. He appointed Ben as deputy the following year.
Ben Dowell married Juana Marquez, a full-blooded Tigua Indian. The wedding took place about 1852 or 1853 at Concordia, Texas with the Judge Rufus Doane officiating. Juana could not converse in English, but could understand it.
Ben, Juana and Bill Ford next headed west to Los Angeles, California. They traveled with a wagon train, which greatly reduced the danger of attack by Indians or outlaws. Ben and Juana's daughter Mary was born in Los Angeles in 1854, where Ben and Bill had found work in housing construction. The 1849 California gold rush, which had drawn people from all over the world, had died down considerably. Dowell and Ford determined that most gold prospectors by then were unsuccessful. They also felt the town was too dangerous and lawless with fights, lynching, robberies and murders being a common occurrence. So Ben, Bill and their families decided to returned to Texas. On their journey back they camped at Cooke's Springs, located a few miles east of the present day Arizona state line in southern New Mexico. While the adults were busy with breakfast a coyote grabbed their baby Mary by the clothing and ran off with her. Ben heard the baby cry and picked up his gun and shot and killed the coyote. Juana quickly retrieved their baby from where the coyote had fallen. Back in Texas by 1855, Ben purchased land (one lot) in Franklin in 1857 where he operated his saloon, general store, post office and residence from a thick-walled adobe building. Dowell's saloon included a bar, a billiard table, as well as an area for poker and other gambling. Later Ben had a hotel and operated a stagecoach stand. It was mentioned Ben was also a wheelwright and wagon builder. A year later, Ben and Bill would buy the lot to the north. Ben would later purchase 3,000 acres of prime land located about 8 miles north in the Rio Grande Valley where he raised the beef he butchered to supply the army post on a contract basis. It is mentioned that Ben was also a surveyor.
In 1855, a Franklin City business had its safe robbed and Ben Dowell had several horses stolen. Evidence pointed to two men, William Gifford and Blair McElroy, as being responsible. McElroy was known to have killed two men in California. It became common knowledge that Ben Dowell wanted to get even. Ben's old friend Bill Ford owned a saloon about 20 miles south of Franklin City where he had overheard McElroy planning to head to Ben Dowell's saloon to rob and kill him by shooting him when Ben turned his back to serve them drinks. Bill quickly sent a fast rider to warn Ben. Ford's plan worked, as Dowell and his friend Albert Kuhn were waiting and shot McElroy dead when he came through the door of Ben's saloon. A newspaper article of the event noted that McElroy was the third safe robber that had been killed in Franklin City.
Border towns like El Paso held a fascination for gunfighters. There was plenty of opportunity for them to test their skills, and if you happened to be on the run, the relative safety of Mexico was just across the Rio Grande River with very little law along the border. Another escape for outlaws was was the vast and uncharted lawless territory of New Mexico located only 10 miles to the north. Ben Dowell's saloon, as the town's most popular gathering place, was the scene of many shooting incidents. In March 1858, Tom Smith, a gambler, killed Dr. Frank Giddings at the saloon. The accused murderer fled to Mexico. Occasionally, a shooting was "accidental." W. W. Mills witnessed a bystander killed in the saloon when one gambler aimed at another and missed. The coroner's jury ruled it purely accidental, extending sympathy to the man whose aim had been so poor as to miss his target. No one paid much attention to the victim.
Stagecoaches rolled by Ben Dowell's saloon, and it is mentioned that he ran a stagecoach stand at his hotel. Following the California gold rush in 1849, the quickly growing population living on the west coast was demanding faster mail service and cheaper freight. They felt cut off from the rest of the country. For instance, a mail route from San Antonio, Texas to San Diego, California required 50 to 60 days. Trains could cover the distance in a fraction of the time, but it would be years before railroad lines would span from the Midwest to California. So, in April 1857, the United States Postal Department requested bids for a mail route from St. Louis, Missouri to San Francisco, California. The route, then the longest mail route in the world, would go through the southwest and each one-way trip was not to exceed 25 days. Though longer than a Midwest route, a southwest route would be snow free. Franklin City (later named El Paso), Texas would become the largest stop and the halfway point on the route. The mail contract was awarded to John Butterfield (1801-1869), owner of the respected Overland Mail Company. Stagecoaches would be used because they could also haul passengers and freight for added revenue. In an amazing feat, within one year, and under threat of Indian attack, surveyors and road crews built some 200 stations located approximately every 20 miles, dug water wells, modified banks at river crossings, constructed roads through passes, and built bridges along the route that would extend more than 3,000 miles. The route would soon be known as the "Butterfield Trail." Ben Dowell's granddaughter stated that Ben was employed by the Butterfield Company. This stagecoach mail route would employ nearly 1,500 men and women as drivers, station keepers, cooks, blacksmiths, mechanics, harness makers and veterinarians, requiring nearly 250 coaches and freight wagons, and more than 1,000 horses and mules. [It was said that Ben Dowell was also a wheelwright and wagon maker.] The two types of stagecoaches used on this trail were assembled by three of the leading coach builders in the country. Heavy and sturdy, they were finest available. And they had to be to handle these rough trails and heavy loads of freight and passengers. There were possible dangers on this trail. As a result, the driver was accompanied on top of the stage by an armed guard. Being robbed by outlaws was a possibility in certain areas, but most felt the biggest danger was attack by Indians. In fact, from Fort Belknap, Texas to Fort Yuma, California, a distance of 1,100 miles, was considered dangerous Indian country. In Quitman Canyon, located southeast of El Paso, there were two incidents, the last being in 1881, of Indians attacking stagecoaches and killing those on the stage. Passenger fares on the Butterfield Trail were $150.00 for a full length one-way trip, or ten cents a mile for shorter trips. Each passenger was allowed 40 lbs. of luggage. A fresh team of 4 to 6 horses or mules was ready at each station. The stages traveled day and night, stopping only to change teams and when passengers ate. Very successful, this stagecoach mail route on the Butterfield Trail ran until it was replaced by trains in 1869.
The 1860 Federal Census lists Ben Dowell as B. S. Dowell in El Paso, Texas with a real estate value of $5,000 and personal estate valued at $3,000.
Sometime in 1860, Ben Dowell, wife Juana and daughter Mary traveled back to Kentucky to visit his relatives. Before they left, Ben made sure that his brother Nim (Nehemiah) would oversee his many business affairs should he die on the trip. They traveled to San Antonio with a mule train. The Dowells had a closed wagon with a bed and another wagon with food, supplies and a French cook. They next took a stagecoach to Houston, then to the Gulf on the only railway then in Texas. At Galveston a coach accident killed two people, but the Dowell family was not injured. At New Orleans, they took the steamboat Natchez up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to Kentucky. Ben had a wonderful time visiting, but Juana, unable to speak the language, felt like an outsider. Ben's sister, Susan Jane, her husband Burnis B. Shacklett and their four children traveled back to El Paso with them. Susan wrote, "In April 1860 we left our native land [Kentucky], taking the boat Montgomery and with the captain by the same name, we down the river from Rochester. There was a storm near Paducah we laid over there until they could repair the boat. We went on to New Orleans and stopped there two days and nights. Then we crossed the river and took the train for the bay. There we boarded the ship for Port Lavaca. We were on the ship two days and nights. We landed at Galveston for a while. We stayed at Port Lavaca several days waiting for our goods to be unloaded. Then we hitched our wagons and started out by land for El Paso, Texas, eight hundred miles away. We went by way of San Antonio. We camped there for one week on account of the hot weather and mosquitoes. We went on three hundred miles west on Turkey Creek. We camped there for a month, waiting for a train of wagons. We could not travel any further alone on account of danger of Indians. We traveled at night because the Indians were hostile and water so scarce. It was forty miles from one watering place to another. We carried water in kegs for the family but the poor mules had to do without. Stopping at the watering places we would rest and cook enough food to do us until the next stop. The children were very scared of the Indians. We could see them at distance watching us closely, but due to the large number of well armed men in the wagon train they did not attack us. We got to El Paso on August 15th or near that time."
Note: According to Susan's story, this amazing journey covered about 2,000 miles from their home in Kentucky to Texas and required about 4 months!
During the (American) Civil War (1861-1865), Dowell aided the Confederacy with supplies early on, achieving the rank of Captain. When Union troops took charge of El Paso, Dowell's family fled across the border to Mexico. It was during this time that Ben lost much of his possessions. Dowell's family returned to El Paso after the war and steadily gained back their holdings.
Moses Carson 1792-1868, was a frontiersman and scout as was his more famous half-brother Kit Carson. During the American Civil War, Moses served as a civilian scout, spy and courier for the Confederacy operating out of New Mexico and later Franklin (El Paso), Texas. It has been determined Moses Carson is buried in Concordia Cemetery in El Paso. (Findagrave memorial for Moses Carson)
In 1873, Ben Dowell became the first duly elected Mayor of El Paso, Texas. Ben's hair and beard had turned white at an early age. This, along with his common sense wisdom and accomplishments, are thought to be the reasons he was also known as Uncle Ben Dowell.
Horse racing was, in many cases, the most popular spectator event in the Old West and large amounts of money, valuables, livestock, or property could be wagered at these events. Some of these races in El Paso were well promoted and drew people from a wide area. The racetrack went down Overland Street to where it intersected with El Paso Street. Ben was the owner of several of the most successful and well known racehorses in the El Paso area at that time and advertised in New Mexico newspapers that he would race his horse, Kit, a mare, a quarter mile against any horse for $2,000.00. Kit's most famous race was against Fly, a large thoroughbred said to be of Arabian stock, owned by Mr. Maxwell of New Mexico. Maxwell met the challenge and the race between Kit and Fly took place in El Paso on January 26, 1872, when people came from as far as Sante Fe and Chihuahua to place bets. One witness calculated as much as $25,000.00 changed hands that day. Fly took the early lead. Following Dowell's instructions, Kit's rider held her back until the halfway point marked by a row of trees. Then he let her go. Kit won by about 15 feet. Maxwell was in disbelief that Fly had been defeated. Later, a Dutchman came through El Paso with a horse he said had never been beaten. The Dutchman lost all his money when Kit won. Competitors came from California, New Mexico and Colorado, but none could outrun Kit. In fact, Kit never lost a race and was so renowned that her death was reported in the Sante Fe Daily New Mexican on July 16, 1875.
Mormon missionary Daniel W. Jones stated that a group of ruffians tried to take over the town of El Paso in September of 1875. At the time, Ben Dowell was Marshall. Somehow the outlaws were arrested and found guilty of first-degree murder. Ben was one of those ordered by the court to carry out the sentence, shoot the murderers to death. Dowell and others shot four of the condemned men in the street in front of the main saloon and had them properly buried. The missionary never heard any complaint about the court's orders or the sentence, but then again, Judge Jones and Ben Dowell were very much respected by citizens of the region.
In September of 1876, Billy the Kid came through El Paso on his way to San Elizario, Texas and stopped briefly at Ben Dowell's saloon. Billy was planning to break his friend out of jail in San Elizario. (Leon C. Metz, "El Paso Chronicles: A Record of Historical Events in El Paso, Texas," 1993.)
Pat Garrett, the man credited with killing Billy the Kid, mentions Ben Dowell's saloon in his autobiography.
Accounts of Ben Dowell's amazing life can be found in several books including C. L. Sonnichsen's book entitled, "Pass of The North, Four Centuries on the Rio Grande," Vol. 1, 1968, and "Forty Years in El Paso" by W. W. Mills, 1962. Another very interesting book was written specifically about Ben's life by Nancy Hamilton and entitled, "Ben Dowell, El Paso's First Mayor," 1976. Another book that mentions Ben Dowell is called "Legendary Watering Holes: The Saloons That Made Texas Famous," Texas A & M Press, 2004, has a chapter dedicated to Ben Dowell and his saloon by writer Nancy Hamilton.
The El Paso Board of Education recognized Ben Dowell's daughter, Mary, as one of El Paso's pioneer teachers, and Ben Dowell as one of the town's early leaders when Dowell Elementary School was opened in 1959 and is located at 5249 Bastille Avenue in northeast El Paso, Texas.
On the television series "Death Valley Days," actor Marshall Thompson portrayed Mayor Ben Dowell in an episode entitled, "The Streets of El Paso" which aired May 5, 1964.
Famed Old West writer Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) wrote about Ben Dowell and his saloon in L'Amour's book, "The Sackett Brand." In this book (chapter 9) a brief scene involves a poker game occurring one night in Uncle Ben Dowell's saloon in El Paso with some of the characters engaging in conversation with Ben Dowell. [Louis L'Amour, "The Sackett Brand," Bantam Books, New York, New York, 1965.] As of 2010, Louis L'Amour's stories and more than 125 books have sold more than 320 million copies and have been turned into 45 Hollywood films and television movies including "Hondo" starring John Wayne. His novels Hondo and Flint are on the list of the 25 best Western Novels of all time.
Ben Dowell and Juana Marquez Dowell had five children;
1. Mary Dowell, born Oct. 30, 1854 in Los Angeles, California. Died in December of 1951 at the age of 97. Burial in Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. Mary was a pioneer school teacher in El Paso. Dowell Elementary School on Bastille Street in El Paso was dedicated to Mary and her father. Mary married Warner Phillips, a man from Missouri who was 20 years her senior. Warner served as county commissioner. He and Mary had the only dairy farm in the area. They were the parents of five children, the first being Benjamin Dowell Phillips who had two sons, Dr. Benjamin A. Phillips, a chemical engineer, who, besides being a chief of the Liquid Propellants Branch at White Sands Missile Range, held patents on several inventions related to refrigeration, and Dr. Joseph T. Phillips, staff member of the University of Texas Medical Branch.
Mary's husband, Warner Phillips, died in 1887. Mary was next married to Gaudencio Prieto. This marriage produced two children.
2. John (occasionally shown as Juan) R. Dowell, born in Ysleta, Texas Aug. 12, 1862 and died Feb. 3, 1916. John married Lucia G., last name unknown at this time. John is buried at Concordia Cemetery in El Paso, Texas. His grave is marked with a large headstone simply inscribed, "Dowell."
3. Nehemiah "Nim" Dowell, born in El Paso, Apr. 24, 1866.
4. Elijah "Lige" Dowell, born in El Paso ca. 1868. Elijah died in New Mexico in 1920. Further information from the 1900 Federal Census shows an Elijah Dowell, age 31, Mexican male, single, who was then an inmate at the Huntsville Penitentiary. The reasons for his imprisonment and year he was incarcerated was not shown. His occupation was cowboy and his date of birth was April 1869. He was born in Texas, his father was born in Kentucky, and his mother was born in Texas. Unlike many of his fellow inmates listed as Mexican, Elijah could read, write, and speak English. (Note that it has been stated that two of Ben Dowell's sons had scrapes with the law which possibly included cattle rustling. Maybe that is how Elijah Dowell landed in jail?)
5. Richard Dowell, born in El Paso in 1875. Richard married a girl named Refugio. They moved to Mexico. No other information.
Ben S. Dowell died on Nov. 8, 1880 at his residence in El Paso and was buried the following day at the Masonic Cemetery. It is said that Ben died of pneumonia following his repair of an irrigation ditch. Ben was later reburied when the cemetery was moved to Concordia Cemetery in 1881. Juana Dowell died in early 1891, and reported to have first been buried at Ysleta and reburied at Concordia Cemetery. Family members have been unable to locate either of their graves.
Ben felt that when the railroad arrived in their town the landowners and merchants would become rich. When Ben died, the railroad was just 6 months away from bringing rail service to El Paso.
Trade tokens were used by several early El Paso businesses. Two or three styles mention the Ben Dowell Saloon with one showing, "B. Dowell Saloon" on one side and "El Paso" on the other side.
Today, a plaque on the wall of the Camino Real Hotel in El Paso, Texas reads, "A City Is Born - On this site with Butterfield Stages rumbling by, stood a saloon operated by Ben S. Dowell who became the first mayor of El Paso on August 15, 1873....From this inauspicious beginning grew a great city at this pass of the north a crossroads of the Western Hemisphere....
In 1838, Ben married Melvina B. Stith, a neighbor girl. Stith Valley was named for Melvina's ancestors.
In June of 1846 in Louisville, Kentucky, Ben signed up as a volunteer for the U. S. - Mexican War (1846-1848) and brought a horse as well as $20.00 worth of equipment. He enlisted as a private and was assigned to Captain Aaron Pennington's Company G in Colonel Humphrey Marshall's 1st Regiment, Kentucky Cavalry. The following year Ben was with a group that were captured and held for eight months in Mexico City in very poor conditions without adequate food and water. It was during this time Ben's hair turned white. Ben survived this tough period though, and upon his release from military service, claimed 160 acres of bounty land, a compensation for his military service. By this time he knew that he wanted to live out West. Melvina however, did not want to leave her family and familiar life in Kentucky, so they divorced. She later married George H. Miles, a farmer and operator of a dry goods store.
The above mentioned U. S. - Mexican War (1846-1848) seems little remembered today when compared to how it dramatically increased the size of our country. By winning the war and the resulting treaty, the U. S. acquired for $21 million (just half of what it previously offered), what is today California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming.
By about 1850, Ben Dowell was in Franklin City, Texas, working as a supervisor in vineyards. Franklin City was named by Benjamin Franklin Coontz when he was serving there as the first postmaster. At that time the old Mexican city located directly across the Rio Grande River was called El Paso del Norte or just El Paso. Franklin City changed its name to El Paso in 1859 and El Paso del Norte, Mexico adopted the name Ciudad Juarez and is now commonly referred to as Juarez, Mexico.
Ben Dowell's best friend, William M. "Bill" Ford was elected sheriff in 1852. He appointed Ben as deputy the following year.
Ben Dowell married Juana Marquez, a full-blooded Tigua Indian. The wedding took place about 1852 or 1853 at Concordia, Texas with the Judge Rufus Doane officiating. Juana could not converse in English, but could understand it.
Ben, Juana and Bill Ford next headed west to Los Angeles, California. They traveled with a wagon train, which greatly reduced the danger of attack by Indians or outlaws. Ben and Juana's daughter Mary was born in Los Angeles in 1854, where Ben and Bill had found work in housing construction. The 1849 California gold rush, which had drawn people from all over the world, had died down considerably. Dowell and Ford determined that most gold prospectors by then were unsuccessful. They also felt the town was too dangerous and lawless with fights, lynching, robberies and murders being a common occurrence. So Ben, Bill and their families decided to returned to Texas. On their journey back they camped at Cooke's Springs, located a few miles east of the present day Arizona state line in southern New Mexico. While the adults were busy with breakfast a coyote grabbed their baby Mary by the clothing and ran off with her. Ben heard the baby cry and picked up his gun and shot and killed the coyote. Juana quickly retrieved their baby from where the coyote had fallen. Back in Texas by 1855, Ben purchased land (one lot) in Franklin in 1857 where he operated his saloon, general store, post office and residence from a thick-walled adobe building. Dowell's saloon included a bar, a billiard table, as well as an area for poker and other gambling. Later Ben had a hotel and operated a stagecoach stand. It was mentioned Ben was also a wheelwright and wagon builder. A year later, Ben and Bill would buy the lot to the north. Ben would later purchase 3,000 acres of prime land located about 8 miles north in the Rio Grande Valley where he raised the beef he butchered to supply the army post on a contract basis. It is mentioned that Ben was also a surveyor.
In 1855, a Franklin City business had its safe robbed and Ben Dowell had several horses stolen. Evidence pointed to two men, William Gifford and Blair McElroy, as being responsible. McElroy was known to have killed two men in California. It became common knowledge that Ben Dowell wanted to get even. Ben's old friend Bill Ford owned a saloon about 20 miles south of Franklin City where he had overheard McElroy planning to head to Ben Dowell's saloon to rob and kill him by shooting him when Ben turned his back to serve them drinks. Bill quickly sent a fast rider to warn Ben. Ford's plan worked, as Dowell and his friend Albert Kuhn were waiting and shot McElroy dead when he came through the door of Ben's saloon. A newspaper article of the event noted that McElroy was the third safe robber that had been killed in Franklin City.
Border towns like El Paso held a fascination for gunfighters. There was plenty of opportunity for them to test their skills, and if you happened to be on the run, the relative safety of Mexico was just across the Rio Grande River with very little law along the border. Another escape for outlaws was was the vast and uncharted lawless territory of New Mexico located only 10 miles to the north. Ben Dowell's saloon, as the town's most popular gathering place, was the scene of many shooting incidents. In March 1858, Tom Smith, a gambler, killed Dr. Frank Giddings at the saloon. The accused murderer fled to Mexico. Occasionally, a shooting was "accidental." W. W. Mills witnessed a bystander killed in the saloon when one gambler aimed at another and missed. The coroner's jury ruled it purely accidental, extending sympathy to the man whose aim had been so poor as to miss his target. No one paid much attention to the victim.
Stagecoaches rolled by Ben Dowell's saloon, and it is mentioned that he ran a stagecoach stand at his hotel. Following the California gold rush in 1849, the quickly growing population living on the west coast was demanding faster mail service and cheaper freight. They felt cut off from the rest of the country. For instance, a mail route from San Antonio, Texas to San Diego, California required 50 to 60 days. Trains could cover the distance in a fraction of the time, but it would be years before railroad lines would span from the Midwest to California. So, in April 1857, the United States Postal Department requested bids for a mail route from St. Louis, Missouri to San Francisco, California. The route, then the longest mail route in the world, would go through the southwest and each one-way trip was not to exceed 25 days. Though longer than a Midwest route, a southwest route would be snow free. Franklin City (later named El Paso), Texas would become the largest stop and the halfway point on the route. The mail contract was awarded to John Butterfield (1801-1869), owner of the respected Overland Mail Company. Stagecoaches would be used because they could also haul passengers and freight for added revenue. In an amazing feat, within one year, and under threat of Indian attack, surveyors and road crews built some 200 stations located approximately every 20 miles, dug water wells, modified banks at river crossings, constructed roads through passes, and built bridges along the route that would extend more than 3,000 miles. The route would soon be known as the "Butterfield Trail." Ben Dowell's granddaughter stated that Ben was employed by the Butterfield Company. This stagecoach mail route would employ nearly 1,500 men and women as drivers, station keepers, cooks, blacksmiths, mechanics, harness makers and veterinarians, requiring nearly 250 coaches and freight wagons, and more than 1,000 horses and mules. [It was said that Ben Dowell was also a wheelwright and wagon maker.] The two types of stagecoaches used on this trail were assembled by three of the leading coach builders in the country. Heavy and sturdy, they were finest available. And they had to be to handle these rough trails and heavy loads of freight and passengers. There were possible dangers on this trail. As a result, the driver was accompanied on top of the stage by an armed guard. Being robbed by outlaws was a possibility in certain areas, but most felt the biggest danger was attack by Indians. In fact, from Fort Belknap, Texas to Fort Yuma, California, a distance of 1,100 miles, was considered dangerous Indian country. In Quitman Canyon, located southeast of El Paso, there were two incidents, the last being in 1881, of Indians attacking stagecoaches and killing those on the stage. Passenger fares on the Butterfield Trail were $150.00 for a full length one-way trip, or ten cents a mile for shorter trips. Each passenger was allowed 40 lbs. of luggage. A fresh team of 4 to 6 horses or mules was ready at each station. The stages traveled day and night, stopping only to change teams and when passengers ate. Very successful, this stagecoach mail route on the Butterfield Trail ran until it was replaced by trains in 1869.
The 1860 Federal Census lists Ben Dowell as B. S. Dowell in El Paso, Texas with a real estate value of $5,000 and personal estate valued at $3,000.
Sometime in 1860, Ben Dowell, wife Juana and daughter Mary traveled back to Kentucky to visit his relatives. Before they left, Ben made sure that his brother Nim (Nehemiah) would oversee his many business affairs should he die on the trip. They traveled to San Antonio with a mule train. The Dowells had a closed wagon with a bed and another wagon with food, supplies and a French cook. They next took a stagecoach to Houston, then to the Gulf on the only railway then in Texas. At Galveston a coach accident killed two people, but the Dowell family was not injured. At New Orleans, they took the steamboat Natchez up the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to Kentucky. Ben had a wonderful time visiting, but Juana, unable to speak the language, felt like an outsider. Ben's sister, Susan Jane, her husband Burnis B. Shacklett and their four children traveled back to El Paso with them. Susan wrote, "In April 1860 we left our native land [Kentucky], taking the boat Montgomery and with the captain by the same name, we down the river from Rochester. There was a storm near Paducah we laid over there until they could repair the boat. We went on to New Orleans and stopped there two days and nights. Then we crossed the river and took the train for the bay. There we boarded the ship for Port Lavaca. We were on the ship two days and nights. We landed at Galveston for a while. We stayed at Port Lavaca several days waiting for our goods to be unloaded. Then we hitched our wagons and started out by land for El Paso, Texas, eight hundred miles away. We went by way of San Antonio. We camped there for one week on account of the hot weather and mosquitoes. We went on three hundred miles west on Turkey Creek. We camped there for a month, waiting for a train of wagons. We could not travel any further alone on account of danger of Indians. We traveled at night because the Indians were hostile and water so scarce. It was forty miles from one watering place to another. We carried water in kegs for the family but the poor mules had to do without. Stopping at the watering places we would rest and cook enough food to do us until the next stop. The children were very scared of the Indians. We could see them at distance watching us closely, but due to the large number of well armed men in the wagon train they did not attack us. We got to El Paso on August 15th or near that time."
Note: According to Susan's story, this amazing journey covered about 2,000 miles from their home in Kentucky to Texas and required about 4 months!
During the (American) Civil War (1861-1865), Dowell aided the Confederacy with supplies early on, achieving the rank of Captain. When Union troops took charge of El Paso, Dowell's family fled across the border to Mexico. It was during this time that Ben lost much of his possessions. Dowell's family returned to El Paso after the war and steadily gained back their holdings.
Moses Carson 1792-1868, was a frontiersman and scout as was his more famous half-brother Kit Carson. During the American Civil War, Moses served as a civilian scout, spy and courier for the Confederacy operating out of New Mexico and later Franklin (El Paso), Texas. It has been determined Moses Carson is buried in Concordia Cemetery in El Paso. (Findagrave memorial for Moses Carson)
In 1873, Ben Dowell became the first duly elected Mayor of El Paso, Texas. Ben's hair and beard had turned white at an early age. This, along with his common sense wisdom and accomplishments, are thought to be the reasons he was also known as Uncle Ben Dowell.
Horse racing was, in many cases, the most popular spectator event in the Old West and large amounts of money, valuables, livestock, or property could be wagered at these events. Some of these races in El Paso were well promoted and drew people from a wide area. The racetrack went down Overland Street to where it intersected with El Paso Street. Ben was the owner of several of the most successful and well known racehorses in the El Paso area at that time and advertised in New Mexico newspapers that he would race his horse, Kit, a mare, a quarter mile against any horse for $2,000.00. Kit's most famous race was against Fly, a large thoroughbred said to be of Arabian stock, owned by Mr. Maxwell of New Mexico. Maxwell met the challenge and the race between Kit and Fly took place in El Paso on January 26, 1872, when people came from as far as Sante Fe and Chihuahua to place bets. One witness calculated as much as $25,000.00 changed hands that day. Fly took the early lead. Following Dowell's instructions, Kit's rider held her back until the halfway point marked by a row of trees. Then he let her go. Kit won by about 15 feet. Maxwell was in disbelief that Fly had been defeated. Later, a Dutchman came through El Paso with a horse he said had never been beaten. The Dutchman lost all his money when Kit won. Competitors came from California, New Mexico and Colorado, but none could outrun Kit. In fact, Kit never lost a race and was so renowned that her death was reported in the Sante Fe Daily New Mexican on July 16, 1875.
Mormon missionary Daniel W. Jones stated that a group of ruffians tried to take over the town of El Paso in September of 1875. At the time, Ben Dowell was Marshall. Somehow the outlaws were arrested and found guilty of first-degree murder. Ben was one of those ordered by the court to carry out the sentence, shoot the murderers to death. Dowell and others shot four of the condemned men in the street in front of the main saloon and had them properly buried. The missionary never heard any complaint about the court's orders or the sentence, but then again, Judge Jones and Ben Dowell were very much respected by citizens of the region.
In September of 1876, Billy the Kid came through El Paso on his way to San Elizario, Texas and stopped briefly at Ben Dowell's saloon. Billy was planning to break his friend out of jail in San Elizario. (Leon C. Metz, "El Paso Chronicles: A Record of Historical Events in El Paso, Texas," 1993.)
Pat Garrett, the man credited with killing Billy the Kid, mentions Ben Dowell's saloon in his autobiography.
Accounts of Ben Dowell's amazing life can be found in several books including C. L. Sonnichsen's book entitled, "Pass of The North, Four Centuries on the Rio Grande," Vol. 1, 1968, and "Forty Years in El Paso" by W. W. Mills, 1962. Another very interesting book was written specifically about Ben's life by Nancy Hamilton and entitled, "Ben Dowell, El Paso's First Mayor," 1976. Another book that mentions Ben Dowell is called "Legendary Watering Holes: The Saloons That Made Texas Famous," Texas A & M Press, 2004, has a chapter dedicated to Ben Dowell and his saloon by writer Nancy Hamilton.
The El Paso Board of Education recognized Ben Dowell's daughter, Mary, as one of El Paso's pioneer teachers, and Ben Dowell as one of the town's early leaders when Dowell Elementary School was opened in 1959 and is located at 5249 Bastille Avenue in northeast El Paso, Texas.
On the television series "Death Valley Days," actor Marshall Thompson portrayed Mayor Ben Dowell in an episode entitled, "The Streets of El Paso" which aired May 5, 1964.
Famed Old West writer Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) wrote about Ben Dowell and his saloon in L'Amour's book, "The Sackett Brand." In this book (chapter 9) a brief scene involves a poker game occurring one night in Uncle Ben Dowell's saloon in El Paso with some of the characters engaging in conversation with Ben Dowell. [Louis L'Amour, "The Sackett Brand," Bantam Books, New York, New York, 1965.] As of 2010, Louis L'Amour's stories and more than 125 books have sold more than 320 million copies and have been turned into 45 Hollywood films and television movies including "Hondo" starring John Wayne. His novels Hondo and Flint are on the list of the 25 best Western Novels of all time.
Ben Dowell and Juana Marquez Dowell had five children;
1. Mary Dowell, born Oct. 30, 1854 in Los Angeles, California. Died in December of 1951 at the age of 97. Burial in Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas. Mary was a pioneer school teacher in El Paso. Dowell Elementary School on Bastille Street in El Paso was dedicated to Mary and her father. Mary married Warner Phillips, a man from Missouri who was 20 years her senior. Warner served as county commissioner. He and Mary had the only dairy farm in the area. They were the parents of five children, the first being Benjamin Dowell Phillips who had two sons, Dr. Benjamin A. Phillips, a chemical engineer, who, besides being a chief of the Liquid Propellants Branch at White Sands Missile Range, held patents on several inventions related to refrigeration, and Dr. Joseph T. Phillips, staff member of the University of Texas Medical Branch.
Mary's husband, Warner Phillips, died in 1887. Mary was next married to Gaudencio Prieto. This marriage produced two children.
2. John (occasionally shown as Juan) R. Dowell, born in Ysleta, Texas Aug. 12, 1862 and died Feb. 3, 1916. John married Lucia G., last name unknown at this time. John is buried at Concordia Cemetery in El Paso, Texas. His grave is marked with a large headstone simply inscribed, "Dowell."
3. Nehemiah "Nim" Dowell, born in El Paso, Apr. 24, 1866.
4. Elijah "Lige" Dowell, born in El Paso ca. 1868. Elijah died in New Mexico in 1920. Further information from the 1900 Federal Census shows an Elijah Dowell, age 31, Mexican male, single, who was then an inmate at the Huntsville Penitentiary. The reasons for his imprisonment and year he was incarcerated was not shown. His occupation was cowboy and his date of birth was April 1869. He was born in Texas, his father was born in Kentucky, and his mother was born in Texas. Unlike many of his fellow inmates listed as Mexican, Elijah could read, write, and speak English. (Note that it has been stated that two of Ben Dowell's sons had scrapes with the law which possibly included cattle rustling. Maybe that is how Elijah Dowell landed in jail?)
5. Richard Dowell, born in El Paso in 1875. Richard married a girl named Refugio. They moved to Mexico. No other information.
Ben S. Dowell died on Nov. 8, 1880 at his residence in El Paso and was buried the following day at the Masonic Cemetery. It is said that Ben died of pneumonia following his repair of an irrigation ditch. Ben was later reburied when the cemetery was moved to Concordia Cemetery in 1881. Juana Dowell died in early 1891, and reported to have first been buried at Ysleta and reburied at Concordia Cemetery. Family members have been unable to locate either of their graves.
Ben felt that when the railroad arrived in their town the landowners and merchants would become rich. When Ben died, the railroad was just 6 months away from bringing rail service to El Paso.
Trade tokens were used by several early El Paso businesses. Two or three styles mention the Ben Dowell Saloon with one showing, "B. Dowell Saloon" on one side and "El Paso" on the other side.
Today, a plaque on the wall of the Camino Real Hotel in El Paso, Texas reads, "A City Is Born - On this site with Butterfield Stages rumbling by, stood a saloon operated by Ben S. Dowell who became the first mayor of El Paso on August 15, 1873....From this inauspicious beginning grew a great city at this pass of the north a crossroads of the Western Hemisphere....
Family Members
Siblings
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Elizabeth "Betsy" Dowell Barnes
1814–1896
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Jemima A. "Jennie" Dowell Bramlett
1815–1902
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Nancy Dowell Dowell
1817–1905
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Elijah Roundtree Dowell Sr
1820–1903
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John Aaron Dowell
1821–1895
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Sallie K. Dowell Dowell
1823–1897
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James M Dowell
1824–1863
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Susanna Jane Dowell Shacklett
1830–1920
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Richard Shacklett Dowell
1833–1915
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