Crocheron McDowall House

The Crocheron-McDowall House is a Greek Revival style house located in Bastrop, Texas. The two-story house was built in 1857 for Bastrop merchant Henry Crocheron and was for many years the social and intellectual center in Bastrop. The structure was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on April 20, 1978 and designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1996.

In 1837, Crocheron moved to Bastrop with twelve slaves. He sold the slaves and used the money to open several stores in the town. He was one of the founders of the Bastrop Steam Mill, Incorporated, Bastrop's first industrial enterprise. He served as county treasurer from 1851 to 1853.

Quickly amassing a fortune, Crocheron decided to build a home that would symbolize his affluence. Materials were of the finest quality available. The windows and hand-carved banister were made in New York and shipped to Galveston, and then brought by rail and wagon to Bastrop.

Soon after the house was completed, the Civil War broke out. During the war, Crocheron's niece, Mary Ann Nicholson, moved into the house. Accompanying her uncle on a business trip to Matamoros in 1864, Nicholson met William McDowall. The two married four years later and eventually settled in London. William McDowall died the following year of yellow fever he had contracted while in Central America. In 1869, his wife and her three-month-old daughter, Ruth, returned to Bastrop to live with Crocheron. When he died in 1874, Mary Ann McDowall inherited the house.

Mary McDowall soon began teaching music, and the house became a center of social activity and intellectual interest. Numerous parties, lectures, and concerts were given at the house. In 1897, Ruth McDowall died, whereupon Mary McDowall moved to Houston to live with her sister. The house was sold when she died in 1933.

Since the 1930s the home has had many owners. Today it is part of the Lower Colorado River Authority's Riverside Conference Center.