John Bryan Bowman was of German stock that entered Kentucky by way of Virginia, his grandfather, Abram Bowman, having been colonel of the 8th Virginia German Regiment in the Revolutionary Army. John's father, also a John Bowman, married Mary Mitchum and settled in Mercer County.
John's father was one of the incorporators and trustees of Bacon College, Harrodsburg, so that his son had an early opportunity for observing the technique of academic organization and for developing an enthusiasm for higher education. At the age of fifteen, the son united with the Christian church, an affiliation he retained until his death.
After graduating from the newly-founded Bacon College in 1842, he studied law but did not practice. He occupied himself with the management of "Old Forest Farm, " his inherited estate in what was then called the Cane Run section of Mercer County.
For ten years, he lived there the life of a country gentleman and then, stirred by the collapse of his alma mater and concerned over the prospect of collegiate training in Kentucky, he attracted state-wide attention by a bold challenge to his church to erect a university on the ruins of the failing college.
Bowman was only thirty when he set to work with all the energy and hope of youth to achieve this ambition. For the projected university Mercer County contributed $30, 000; then Bowman set out, driving and riding through the most favorable counties, exerting argument and personality, and astonishing even his friends by taking subscriptions to the amount of $150, 000 in 150 days.
In 1858, the legislature granted the institution a charter naming it Kentucky University. Popular clamor forced it to open prematurely in Harrodsburg as Taylor Academy in that year; in 1859 the College of Arts and Sciences opened with nearly 200 students.
During the Civil War, Bowman, a slaveholder, held to the Union, and as regent managed the affairs of the university so adroitly that, surrounded by armed forces as it often was, not a dollar was lost nor did classes suspend for more than a week.
An accidental fire destroyed the buildings in 1864 and the university subsequently languished. A fortunate event, however, gave great encouragement to Bowman's plans. Accepting the provisions of the Morrill Act of 1862, the Kentucky Assembly had appointed a committee to receive bids for the location of an Agricultural and Mechanical College, and this committee suggested to Bowman the union of this new college with Kentucky University.
Lexington having made the most favorable bid, it was decided to consolidate Transylvania University, Kentucky University, and the A. & M. College there, the whole being called Kentucky University. This institution opened in October 1865, with Bowman as regent. For nine years he directed the policies for the University, accepting no salary but having free residence in "Ashland, " former home of Henry Clay, which the university had purchased and to which Bowman gave added fame by his hospitality.
But dissensions presently arose, chiefly owing to the rival claims of church and state in regulating an institution under joint control. In June 1874, Bowman resigned his office and in 1878 the legislature provided for the separation of Kentucky University from the A. & M. College, thus preparing the way for the latter to become the present State University.
President Grant offered him the appointment of minister to Ecuador, but he declined in order that he might devote himself to his educational programs.
John Bowman founded and organized the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky as an extension of the new Lexington university. Under his administration, Bowman's liberal-minded policies the Kentucky University grew as a modern center for education and learning. Besides bringing the Kentucky University to the point where in 1870 it was among the largest in the country, John Bowman had busied himself with many other affairs: he had had a share in founding Hocker (now Hamilton) College, the Commercial College, and the College of the Bible, all in Lexington; he had helped establish the street-railway system in the same city; he had argued in Washington for irrigation in New Mexico.
Pictures of Bowman reveal a face expressing considerable determination and those who knew him agree that to much charm of bearing he added the force of an aggressive and tenacious character.
In 1845, John Bryan Bowman married Mary Dorcas Williams.
