Chicken and Bread Days Heritage Festival
The 26th Annual Chicken and Bread Days Heritage Festival. The reoccurring first Saturday in October event continues to pay tribute to the history of the community.
As the history is told, Amon G. Carter would sell chicken and bread sandwiches to the passengers stopped at the train depot. However in 1908, an ordinance was passed forbidding the young men from peddling around the depot – ending the tradition. This didn’t end the chicken business.
Mose Johnson didn’t realize he would be creating a legacy for this community when he and his wife, Mabel, began their journey with just $15 and a shoebox full of baby chicks. The first “Mammoth Incubator” with a 6,000 egg capacity in Texas was started. The M. Johnson Poultry Ranch went on to become the breeders of the World’s Best Laying Strain of Single Comb White Leghorns covering 350 acres (where North Central Texas College campus is currently located).
Therefore, Bowie had a World’s largest chicken ranch before the World’s largest knife. That is quite a history.
