YOUNGSPORT - There are fewer stories of Amer ica's centennial celebration in the south than in the north. People in former Confed erate states were barely in the recognizing phase of Re construction and no where near the celebrating phase in 1876. The war had been over for barely more than a decade. In parts of the South, Independence Day was not celebrated, at least publicly, for sev eral more decades. Against that backdrop, a celebration near here on the occasion of America's centennial stands out, even though Young sport was an isolated community, even by the standards of that time. When everybody for miles around gathered at the spring on America's 100th birthday it made such an impact that the springs became known as Cen tennial Springs and the creek that fed it as Centennial Creek. Jim Bowmer, a Temple attorney and county historian and folklorists, has a particular interest in the centennial celebration, since it happened on land that has been in his family since the 1930s. Bowmer wrote of the springs and that first celebration in his book 'The Unknown Bell County.' 'Old timers remembered the celebration the rest of their lives, even those who were only children when it happened.' Bowmer wrote. 'And when their own sons used to play hooky from school, they could often be found at Centennial Spring, their favorite not-so-secret swimming hole.' Things changed. The school at Youngsport closed. The old timers passed on, and the brotherhood and revelry that marked America's Centennial celebration was all but forgotten. But the Bowmers still knew the stories, and the bicentennial celebration in 1976 seemed like a natural to Bowmer's late wife Daurice. She organized a family bicentennial celebration at Centennial Springs. A granite marker commemorating both the 1876 and 1976 events was erected at the site, a flag pole raised and a white gate at the site was decorated with bunting. The bicentennial celebration was mentioned in advance by Dallas Morning News columnist Frank X. Tolbert, who noted that the 1876 celebrants had access to 20 kegs of beer. Tolbert 'complained' that Jim Bowmer had told him the only thing wet at the bicentennial celebration would be the springs. That turned out to be not quite true; it rained four inches that day. Daurice Bowmer braved the pouring rains of noon to ring an old Santa Fe Railroad bell in the Bowmer's front yard across the river. 'But it cleared up for the ceremony and the creek was running well and the spring was full,' Bowmer remembers. The creek doesn't always run strong and the springs often dry up during hot, dry Texas summers like this one but the Bowmer family still celebrates the Fourth of July at the site, which is now part of land the Bowmers donated for the Peaceable Kingdom Retreat For Children. Jim Bowmer remains intrigued by that original event. 'That's always been of interest to me because it happened so soon after Reconstruction in a former Confederate state,' he says. 'Williamson County voted against succession, and I've always thought there was maybe a link between Williamson and western Bell County. 'My daddy always said that western Bell County men were Sam Houston men, and Sam Houston was against succession.' Bell County has its share of Reconstruction horror stories, but what happened at Centennial Springs that day sounds like a reunited and healing country at its best. Confederate veterans mingled with at least a few Union sympathizers. Teetotalers and beer drinkers urged each to his or her own and stood there on the banks of the spring, celebrating freedom and unity, while their children swam in the springs.
