Mustang Mott

Mustang Mott is a rural community located on U. S. Highway 87 approximately seven miles west-northwest of Cuero in DeWitt County. Tradition holds that the origin of the area's name dates back to pioneer days when a large clump of live oaks provided shelter for wild horses. Wagon trains traveling from Indianola to San Antonio used this place as a rest stop. By the 1930s or 1940s the Mustang Mott store, owned by Berthold Hillen and then Herman Boethel, operated in the region. DeWitt County resident Dorothy E. (Kahlich) Pakebusch purchased the business on June 19, 1944, and she and her husband Paul ran the store for almost forty years. Mustang Mott, which consisted of the store, saloon, and a gas station, served area residents as a social gathering place. After Paul Pakebusch's death, the Pakebusch sons sold the store in 1983. Mustang Mott appeared on maps by the 1960s, but no population figures were available until 2000, when the community reported twenty residents.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.