DeWalt or Dewalt was an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Fort Bend County Fort Bend County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. The county was founded on December 29, 1837, and organized the next year. It is named for a blockhouse at a bend of the Brazos River. The community developed around the fort in ...

, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. The former community was located on State Highway 6 (SH 6) between Oilfield Road and Farm to Market Road 1092 (FM 1092). DeWalt has been absorbed by the municipality of

Missouri City Missouri City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Fort Bend County, with a small portion in Harris County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 74,259, an increase ...

, a

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

suburb. Though Dewalt was noted on highway signs as late as 2013, there are few surviving structures and locations from the original community. In 2006, the Dew Plantation's house was moved from DeWalt to nearby Kitty Hollow Park to preserve it as a museum. The private Dewalt Cemetery still exists within the Lake Olympia subdivision.

Geography

DeWalt was situated along SH 6 near its junctions with Oilfield Road (now Scenic Rivers Drive), which goes west, and DeWalt Road (now Lake Olympia Parkway), which heads east. A second source placed DeWalt about a mile northeast at SH 6 and FM 1092. Both intersections are surrounded now by commercial and residential areas. DeWalt was about southeast of

U.S. Route 59 U.S. Route 59 (US 59) is a north–south U.S. highway (though it was signed east–west in parts of Texas). A latecomer to the U.S. Highway System, US 59 is now a border-to-border route, part of the NAFTA Corridor Highway System. It par ...

(US 59) in

Sugar Land Sugar Land (sometimes incorrectly spelled as Sugarland) is the largest city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, located in the southwestern part of the metropolitan area. Located about southwest of downtown Houston, Sugar Land is a po ...

. Lake Olympia Parkway crosses southeast-flowing Oyster Creek by a bridge about east of SH 6. The private, gated DeWalt Cemetery is located east within a neighborhood near Lake Olympia Parkway. DeWalt (as "Dewalt") is still used in

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...

records as the geographical location for some services broadcasting from the several tall towers northeast of the original community. The historic Dew Plantation House had been in DeWalt. It was moved about southeast to county-operated Kitty Hollow Park in 2006 by Fort Bend County and the Fort Bend Museum Association. The building was renovated and now serves as the DeWalt Heritage Center. The DeWalt Heritage Society was formed as part of the Fort Bend County Museum Association to oversee preservation. File:Dewalt TX Dew Plantation.JPG, In 2006 the Dew Plantation House was moved to Kitty Hollow Park to serve as a museum. File:Dewalt TX 1850 Cemetery.JPG, The private DeWalt Cemetery in Missouri City was established in 1850. File:DeWalt TX Dew House Site.JPG, The original homesite for the Dew House along Highway 6 north of Oilfield Road was for sale in 2013.

History

There was a sugar plantation in the vicinity in the 1850s owned by Thomas Waters DeWalt. After the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, which ended in 1865, the plantation was subdivided and populated by an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

community. By 1914, 100 people lived in DeWalt. The Sugar Land Railway passed through the town starting in 1912 until about 1980. Missouri City acquired the previously unincorporated area with annexations in 1965 and 1980.

Government and infrastructure

Fort Bend County does not have a

hospital district Hospital is a Districts of Costa Rica, district of the San José (canton), San José canton, in the San José Province, San José province of Costa Rica. It is one of the four administrative units that form San José, Costa Rica, San José downto ...

. OakBend Medical Center serves as the county's charity hospital which the county contracts with.

Education

DeWalt had been in Missouri City Independent School District prior to its consolidation into

Fort Bend Independent School District Fort Bend Independent School District, also known as Fort Bend ISD or FBISD, is a school district that operates 86 schools in Fort Bend County. Based in Sugar Land, Texas, it is the 5th most diverse school district in Texas and is the 43rd la ...

in 1959.

References

{{Fort Bend County, Texas Missouri City, Texas Populated places in Fort Bend County, Texas