MOWATT, TEXAS. Mowatt was a short-lived station on the Houston and Texas Central Railway (now the Southern Pacific) four miles northwest of McDade in northern Bastrop County. It presumably derived its name from the nearby Mowatt Lignite Coal Mine. Mines had been worked in the area since 1874, and the Mowatt mine, run by a Captain Moyatt, started operation in 1893. The mine was sold to the Houston and Texas Central after flooding occurred, and it fell into disuse about 1900. Mowatt had a post office from June 1899 to August 1900, but apparently no population figures were ever kept. The community appears on a 1901 county map.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: William Henry Korges, Bastrop County, Texas: Historical and Educational Development (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1933). Bill Moore, Bastrop County, 1691-1900 (Wichita Falls: Nortex, 1977).

Paula Mitchell Marks