Bear Spring House, Guardhouse, and Spring
a.k.a. Knape Ranch
S of Bowie off Apache Pass Rd., Bowie, AZThe Bear Spring House, guardhouse, and spring are significant for their historic association with Fort Bowie, established as a National Historic Site on August 30, 1964. The Bear Spring site was developed in 1874 as the water supply for Fort Bowie, one of a string of military installations constructed in the Arizona Territory during the United States Government's campaign against the Chiricahua Apaches in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Additionally, the Bear Spring House is of architectural significance as a rare intact vernacular nineteenth-century residence. The house was constructed largely from materials salvaged from buildings at Fort Bowie when the post was officially abandoned in 1894. The house also incorporates an original "bunker" with rifle-port windows constructed as a defensive structure on the road to the fort.
Local significance of the district:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.