Bowmanville, a small neighborhood in the Lincoln Square community area, was first developed in 1850s by a local inn keeper named Jesse Bowman.
Not one to follow the rules, Bowman “made the cart paths and forest near present-day Foster and Ravenswood Avenues his own,” laying claim to many of the plots of land in the area without actually owning them.
“He then sold the land — that wasn’t his — to unwitting buyers,” and disappeared before the new “owners” discovered that he did not actually own the land he had sold.
I swear!
Blithe Spirit 