The 'Village of Bowden' was established in 1839 by James Hurtle Fisher, who named it after his native village in Northamptonshire.

[10] In October 2008, Premier Mike Rann and Infrastructure Minister Patrick Conlon announced the purchase of the 10-hectare Clipsal factory site in Bowden to become a new "green village".

They announced plans for up to 1,500 medium- and high-density Green Star residential apartments, with retail outlets and commercial offices set around a town centre, for the former industrial site.

[14] The majority of residents (60.8%) are of Australian birth, with other common census responses being England (4.6%), China (4.1%), Malaysia (2.0%), and India (1.5%), New Zealand (1.3%).

Additionally, people of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent made up 1.2% of the suburb.

[14] Bowden is part of Hindmarsh Ward in the City of Charles Sturt local government area, being represented in that council by Paul Alexandrides and Alice Campbell.

[6] The suburb is represented in the South Australian House of Assembly by Peter Malinauskas[5] and federally by Steve Georganas.

Adelaide Bike Kitchen is a community-run group on Gibson Street that teaches people to maintain or build their own bicycles.

[16] Uniting Care Wesley Bowden is charity that helps people and families, and is located at Gibson Street.