Discover Mustang Mott: A Historic Rural Community in Texas


By: Laurie E. Jasinski

Published: July 19, 2004

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.

TSHA is a proud affiliate of University of Texas at Austin
DeWitt County Historical Commission, History of DeWitt County, Texas (Dallas: Curtis, 1991). Nellie Murphree, A History of DeWitt County (Victoria, Texas, 1962).

Places:

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.

Laurie E. Jasinski, “Mustang Mott, TX,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/mustang-mott-tx.

Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

TID: HNM83

July 19, 2004

Find out more about this place from our Texas Almanac.

Place
Mustang Mott
Currently Exists
Yes
Place Type
Town
Town Fields
  • Has post office: No
  • Is Incorporated: No
Belongs to
  • DeWitt County
Coordinates
  • Latitude: 29.11878100°
  • Longitude: -97.40603200°
Population Counts
People Year
20 2009

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