Bridgewater College President's House

Built in 1949 for the President of Bridgewater College, this campus president's home was first inhabited by the family of Warren Daniel Bowman, who served as the president of Bridgewater College from 1949 to 1964. Daniel Bowman was a World War I veteran who began his military service on November 16th, 1917, and later became President of Bridgewater College. Four other presidents of the college who have since lived in the home are Wayne F. Geisert, 1964-1994; Phillip C. Stone, 1994-2010; George E. Cornelius, 2010-2012; and currently, David W. Bushman, who began serving as the university president in 2013.

The home is a three-bay, brick two-story colonial revival with a one-story open-air side wing, which was later enclosed. It also has a side-gabled roof and a chimney. It has gone through many additions and changes with each new consecutive president of the university. These include the red brick being painted white, and the white shutters being painted Black, the addition of a front porch, the enclosing of the side wing, and the addition of a detached two-bay garage. The rear of the home has also undergone significant changes with additions to the original structure.

Warren Daniel Bowman was born on 9 April 1894 in Dayton, Rockingham, Virginia, United States to Benjamin Franklin Bowman and Mary Elizabeth (Miller) Bowman. He grew up as a member of the Church of the Brethren, a Christian Denomination that originated in Germany in the 1700s and spread to the United States in Pennsylvania and down into the Shenandoah Valley. When he was young, he wanted to become a minister. Because he was a member of the Church of the Brethren, Bowman received partial exemption on religious grounds, meaning that he would not have to serve on the front lines. Both he and his brother Martin Luther served in the war, and although Warren Daniel didn’t go overseas, he wrote that he “gained a broader vision, learned to look upon life from a different angle, but am more unsettled in mind than formerly.”

Of his service as a sergeant in the Medical Department, he wrote, “I was not especially caring for Military service but believed it my duty to serve during the crises, so when my call came, I was willing to respond.” He also stated that “Camp experience helped me physically in that I gained in weight and became robust, but cannot say that it benefited me mentally.” He acknowledged, “I gained a broader vision, learned to look upon life from a different angle, but am more unsettled in mind than formerly.” 

Later in life, Bowman became the president of Bridgewater College and the President's home at this site was built for him and his family in 1949. While Boman was President of the College, Bridgewater grew considerably with an increase of students from 494 to 696, which included the admission of the first African American students into the college in 1953. Warren Daniel Bowman passed away on 23 April 1987 in Bridgewater, Rockingham, Virginia and is buried in Oak Lawn Cemetery in Bridgewater.

Francis F. Wayland, Bridgewater College: the First Hundred Years, 1880-1980 (Bridgewater, VA: Bridgewater College, 1993), 467-567.

Harrisonburg Daily News Record, Harrisonburg, Virginia, US September 04, 1917, Page 5

John Walter Wayland, Men of Mark and Representative Citizens of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, Virginia: Portraits and Biographies of Men and Women (Staunton, Virginia: McClure Co., 1943), 48-49.

Nickmohler. “History and Traditions.” Bridgewater College, February 25, 2020. https://www.bridgewater.edu/about-us/bc-history-and-traditions/.

“President's House: Buildings, Campus & Vicinity Photos: Bridgewater College.” Site. Accessed April 19, 2021. https://digitalcommons.bridgewater.edu/presidents_house/. 

Virginia War History Commission Series I, 1919-1924. Box 10 Folder 4, State Records Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.