Story Behind the Name: Bowron Place

In the 1950's, the area we now know as Gunbarrel Estates looked much like it did the century before. You'd see tractors instead of horse-drawn plows, of course, but the land was farmland, known locally as Carton Estate. The nearest neighbors were deer, prairie dogs and burrowing owls-all of which must have felt a world away from the growing city of Boulder.

Around this time, an Illinois native and builder named Bob Bowron was settling his family in Boulder. The Bowrons might have stayed in Illinois if not for their son Kent's severe asthma. When the drier climate proved beneficial for young Kent, the Bowrons dug in. Bob established Bowron Builders, bought some rental properties, and at first, focused on north Boulder.

But in the late 1950s, Bob Bowron had an idea. With his by-then-grown sons, Bob eyed the distant farmlands of Gunbarrel and decided to build a community there. Carton Farm was the family's Field of Dreams, and perhaps by building a subdivision, the people would come. In 1959, Bowron Builders, Inc., bought the Carton Estate, and Bob, Kent, and Kent's brother, also named Bob, went to work.

Kent's daughter Adele Sobieski, said Bowron Builders stuck closely to one philosophy. "They were very much about helping people and making things affordable... but nice," she said.

According to the Gunbarrel Estates website, the Bowrons built houses lining 71st Street before undertaking construction of Gunbarrel Estates proper. 71st Street wasn't paved at that time, and residents soaked the street down to keep dust from settling inside their homes. Rabbits, used to having the run of open land, chomped away at the newly planted lawns. Homeowners fell asleep to the howl of their coyote neighbors. Life along 71st Street was still very rural.

Demand for the Bowron houses wasn't strong, but there was still much to celebrate. Despite slow sales, development moved east in 1964, and Glacier View Road began taking shape. In October of that year, Adele Bowron Sobieski, Kent's daughter and the elder Bob's granddaughter, was born.

Sobieski related the family story of the day she first met her grandfather. "I was the youngest grandchild, and I had a special place. He held me for a very long time, and said how much he loved me."

She spoke of conversations that still come up, years later, with people who knew her grandfather better than she did. They paint a portrait of a talented businessman whose foremost quality was kindness.

"Oh, your Grandpa built my house," she said she's heard many times. "Oh, he didn't charge me rent. Oh, he always had candy in his pocket."

In March of 1965, as Sobieski turned five months old and the earliest houses were framed on Glacier View Road, IBM announced it would establish a new location at Highway 52 and the newly constructed Diagonal Highway.

On that very same day, the Gunbarrel Estates website reports, Bob Bowron died of a sudden heart attack. He never got to see the great success that IBM brought to his fledgling development, or watch his granddaughter Adele grow up. He was 55 years old.

"I'm sorry I didn't get to know him," Sobieski said. "From the stories I heard, it sounds like he was a pretty amazing guy."

Kent Bowron and the younger Bob Bowron kept the family business going, even though neither studied their trade at school.

"My uncle was the architect, and my dad put it into fruition," Sobieski said. "He found the labor, poured the concrete. He always said he'd rather be up on a roof than in an office."

The IBM announcement placed Gunbarrel Estates in an enviable position. Demand for Bowron homes skyrocketed. Buyers selected lots on streets that didn't exist yet, and bought homes from blueprints rather than models. The brothers completed development of Glacier View Road and turned their attention to the next task: developing Bowron Place, which Sobieski says they named after their father.

By the early 1970's, with Gunbarrel Estates an established success, Bowron Builders looked slightly north and east to a town Sobieski's brother once compared to "the old west."

"When he was a little kid," Sobieski said, "Niwot was a sleepy little farm village. There was a blacksmith on the main street in Niwot."

The Bowron brothers went on to create some notable Niwot landmarks: Cottonwood Square Shopping Center and Cottonwood Park West among them.

After Sobieski's uncle Bob passed away, Bowron Builders continued to thrive under Kent's sole leadership. Kent developed Burgundy Park and other parts of the Johnson Farm subdivision in Niwot.

"I'm very proud of my dad," Sobieski stated, matter-of-fact, but she pointed beyond his accomplishments as a builder. "I remember my dad always helping people. Even when he had rental houses in Boulder... a lot of the people were single grandmothers or single moms. He would go fix their houses and not charge. As a single mom, I'm like, where is that for me? They don't make 'em like that anymore," she laughed.

In January, 2010, at age 74, Kent Bowron died of a heart attack. He was active with Bowron Builders until his very last day.

"People either loved him or hated him," Sobieski recalled. "He didn't take any crap. He didn't back down."

As she talked about her father, Kent Bowron began to sound very much like someone else she'd heard stories about... as if, maybe, her dad was the kind of guy who would always have candy in his pockets.

"He would never finish a joke because he'd start laughing too hard. He brought out the good in people."

It's not that Sobieski discounts her family' accomplishments. She's proud of those, too, especially Gunbarrel Estates. "Those houses are so well built," she mused. "They go for a fortune now and I wish I could afford one!"