The history of the city of Bowie is focused on the Belair Estate. Originally part of 10,000 acres deeded to Lord Calvert in 1658, Robert Carvile registered a tract of that land, called Catton, in the 1680s. Catton was renamed Belair early in the 18th Century.

Samuel Ogle, Governor Maryland by crown appointment, bought the land in 1737, and the Belair Mansion was built under his supervision in 1743. Ogle, enamoured of thoroughbred racehorses, established a famous stable.

As plantations developed along the Patuxent River, tobacco farming developed as the primary industry in Prince George's County. In the early 19th century, the farm settlement that eventually became the City of Bowie was called Huntington.

The town grew rapidly throughout the 1870s after thePennsylvania Railroad built a branch line to Washington through Huntington. In the 1880s, the town was renamed in honor of Maryland Governor Oden Bowie.

A New Yorker named William Woodward bought the Belair Estate in 1898, enlarged the mansion, and re-established the tradition of breeding racehorses. The Bowie Race Course, built in 1914, was converted to a racehorse training facility after 70 years as a working racecourse.

During the first half of the 20th century, Bowie remained a fairly small town, surviving mainly because of its location between Baltimore and Washington.

In 1957, the Levitt Company bought 2,000 acres of the Belair Estate,

including the mansion. After persuading the Bowie City Council to annex the land, Levitt built almost 9,000 moderately-priced houses during the 1960s and 1970s. Two rows of giant tulip polars, planted two centuries earlier along the road from the mansion to what is now Rte. 450, became part of the development.

The new part of Bowie became a community of young professionals who commuted to Washington and Baltimore. The old part of Bowie retained its small town atmosphere, with antique shops housed in turn-of-the-century dwellings.

Levitt donated the Belair Mansion to the city in 1964. It is restored and available to the community for tours and special events. Another land-mark, the Whitemarsh Church, originally built by Jesuits in 1742 and then rebuilt after it was destroyed by fire in 1855, still stands near Priest Bridge and Defense Highway.

With the addition of many high-tech businesses, new homes, millions of square feet of office space, and several hotels and shopping centers, Bowie continues to grow as a warm and prosperous community.