DOWELL, TEXAS. Dowell, four miles northeast of Rotan in northern Fisher County, was established around 1885 and named for the Dowell family, early settlers in the area. E. H. Dowell moved there from Nebraska in 1886, opened a store in his home, and became postmaster when the post office opened in 1892. In 1896 the community reported a Baptist church and a population of eight, including J. F. Dowell, grocer. Most businesses moved to Rotan in 1907 when the railroad came to that town. Dowell's post office was also closed that year. The first school in Dowell was established before 1900 but was demolished before 1910; a new building was constructed and later replaced by a brick building that was used until students were transferred to Rotan when the schools were combined in 1946-47. After that time Dowell was abandoned. In the early 1980s the county highway map showed a cemetery at Dowell and the Highland Home Church a mile south.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fisher County Historical Commission, History of Fisher County, Texas (Rotan, Texas: Shelton, 1983). E. L. Yeats and E. H. Shelton, History of Fisher County, (n.p.: Feather, 1971).

Jeanne F. Lively