The area was originally the territory of the Ngadjuri people.[3] The name Bower honours David Bower, a South Australian Member of Parliament (1865 – 1887) who donated land in the state for institutional purposes.[4] By 1916, Bower had become a dispatch centre for mallee timber and roots. These were loaded at the railway station on the Morgan railway line and sent to Adelaide.[5] Bower Public School operated in the town between 1917 and 1960, replacing an earlier Lutheran school forcibly closed during World War I.[4][6][7]
^Dreckow, Betty (1986). Hills, Valley and Plains: History of the Eudunda District. p. 141.
^"CLOSING GERMAN SCHOOLS". Daily Herald. Vol. 8, no. 2260. South Australia. 18 June 1917. p. 3. Retrieved 24 December 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Lime Kiln Ruins". South Australian Heritage Register. Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources. Retrieved 8 April 2016.