In 1940, the war situation in Europe caused the United States Congress to determine that the time had arrived to strengthen the defense system.

The camp was the first major defense project in the state, with no scarcity of labor when the building work began.

On August 1, 1946, the War Department notified Texas members of Congress that the camp had been declared "surplus."

Camp Bowie suffered a large grass fire in July 2008, where several hundred acres of dry, grassy areas of the facility were burned.

Camp Bowie remains an active military training station and recently completed construction of new facilities, including a firing range and several ammunition storage bunkers.