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Dawson County, Texas

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Contents

Formed

  • 1876 Dawson county was formed from Bexar District. [1]

History/Timeline

Of NOTE: Texas has had two Dawson Counties. Information below this for Dawson 1

1856 -A Dawson County was founded in 1856 from Kinney County, Maverick County and Uvalde County, then was divided in 1866 between Kinney County and Uvalde County. [2][3]

Dawson County 2 and Current formed later.

Mural painted by a Jail inmate

Dawson County is named for Nicholas Mosby Dawson, a soldier of the Texas Revolution.[4]

1875 the 24th US Infantry, commanded by Col. William R Shafter reported on local Indians. [5]
Oct 18, 1875 an Indian encampment at Laguna Sabinas (Cedar Lake) was found, the Indian band escaped to the west. The Shafter party made the first wagon roads on the plains, gave favorable report on grazing conditions. [5]
Aug 21, 1876 -formed, attached to Howard County for judicial purposes till Feb 13, 1905, when separate organization was authorized. [5]Current Dawson Co. was founded 1876
1877 - 60 in Nolan expedition got lost in the area between Dawson and Lynn county area, died of thirst. [5]
1881 -Texas and Pacific Railway reached Big Spring in Howard County, which served as shipping point. [5]
1885 - surveyors for Texas and Pacific Railway reported the 1000s buffalo present.
mid 1880s cattlemen learned Plains grass produced fat cattle, ranchmen moved from lower Plains S of the Caprock to the area.[5]
Ranches were: C. C. Slaughter's Lazy S, the TJF, the Fish, and the Bartow ranches occupied most of the land in Dawson County. [5]
1902 - 1st school began in one room of the Mullins ranch house.[5]
1904 - The first church was organized by the Baptists in Chicago.[5]
Mar 20, 1905 -Dawson County's first election to choose officials and select the county seat between Lamesa and Chicago. Lamesa won, then both were consolidated in Lamesa. Buildings in Chicago moved to Lamesa. [5]
1907 Methodists built 1st church building in Lamesa, using it by 4 communions on successive Sundays. Dawson County News was begun by J. E Garrison. first railroad land was sold at from $3-5.00/acre. [5]
1910 - 1911 - 330 farms, ranches were present. The Santa Fe was built into Lamesa.[5]
1914 Cotton became a main crop in Dawson county, Texas[5]
World War I prices were good for the bumper crops produced. Settlers poured in, bought pieces of the newly partitioned ranches, and sent land prices soaring. [5]
1920 24,000 acres was planted in cotton by 1920; (182,527 acres in 1930). [5]
1930 70% of 2,218 farms were farmed by tenants. The Great Depression caused many businesses to fail, but other industries developed in the county. Dairy INDUSTRY prospered. [5]
1930s, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's The dairy industry prospered. But cotton was the predominant crop. Dawson County was the second highest producer of cotton in Texas in 1980, and cotton continued to remain the most important agricultural product in the county. Other major agricultural commodities included sorghum, wheat, cattle and hogs.[5]
1935-85 James Edward "J. E." Airhart, Sr. (1915-2007), served for years on the Dawson Co. Commissioners Court, he worked to obtain the county livestock and fair barn, the general aviation airport, and numerous highway improvements. He was instrumental in the successful negotiation of rights-of-way for U.S. Highway 87 north to O'Donnell and south to Ackerly. A farmer and rancher, Airhart also served on the Klondike Board of Education and as a Baptist deacon. J. E. "Jimmy" Airhart, Jr. (1935-2016), the oldest of Airhart's six children, was a farmer/rancher and educator, who was superintendent of the Dawson Co. Independent School District. [6]
1946 - large ranch opened for settlers, sold for sixty-five dollars an acre. [5]

Government Offices

Dawson County has had two courthouses: 1905 and 1916[7]

1st Courthouse, 1905

1905 Courthouse

2nd Courthouse, 1916 Style: Texas Renaissance, materials - Brick. 1952 annex with remodeling by Allen and Allen.

1916 courthouse.

Note In 2005 and 2006, a former 'guest' of the Dawson County jail was requested to paint murals on the empty slabs of concrete over the entrances to the courthouse. His efforts were successful in adding some much needed character to the courthouse's exterior. We hope they paid him a stipend.

Geography

Location - Dawson County E edge of the Llano Estacado on the S High Plains.
Center is at 32°45' north latitude and 101°57' west longitude, 60 miles S of Lubbock.
Size - 902 square miles of rolling prairie, broken on the E.
Solid - sandy and loam soils, drains to playas.
Altitude 2,600 to 3,200 feet above mean sea level.
Rainfall is 16.09 inches. The average
Temperature - in January is 28° F; the maximum in July is 94°.
Growing season averages 212 days.
Rivers/Creek Sulphur Springs Draw, a natural trail used by the Indians and white men who entered the South Plains. The area was the summer home of Comanches and Kiowas, who moved from waterhole to waterhole in a region that white men thought was waterless.

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcd03

Primary Industries/Employers

  • Agriculture (cotton, peanuts, sorghum, watermelons, alfalfa, grapes)
  • Minerals (oil, natural gas)[8]
  • Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Smith Unit
  • Lamesa Independent School District
  • West Texas Opportunities, Inc.
  • Medical Arts Hospital[9]

Adjacent counties

  • Lynn County (north)
Here's an image.
  • Borden County (east)
  • Martin County (south)
  • Gaines County (west)
  • Terry County (northwest)
  • Andrews County (southwest)
  • Borden County (southeast)

Demographics

In 2000, 14,985 people resided in the county with a population density of 17 people/sq. mi. The racial makeup of the county was 72.47% White, 8.66% Black or African American, 0.30% Native American, 0.25% Asian, 16.56% from other races, and 1.77% from two or more races. About 48.19% of the population were Hispanic. The median income for a household in the county was $28,211, and for a family was $32,745. About 16.40% of families and 19.70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.20% of those under age 18 and 12.80% of those age 65 or over. [10]

Dawson co. in Texas.

A Dawson County was founded in 1856 from Kinney County, Maverick County and Uvalde County, but was divided in 1866 between Kinney County and Uvalde County. The current Dawson County was founded in 1876.

  • Agriculture was more diversified, as county farmers grew sorghum on 2X land as was planted with cotton.
  • During World War II Dawson County provided more men per capita for the armed services than did any other county in Texas.
  • Dawson County was one of the 5 counties in the state to win the coveted Army-Navy "E" award. Lamesa Field, an army airfield, was established in 1942 and deactivated two years later.

Politics
The county held to the Democratic party in national elections through 1964, with the exceptions of 1928, 1952, and 1960. From 1968-1992 Dawson County voters have consistently supported Republican candidates.[11]

  • Dawson is a Dry County [12]

Highways:

  • U.S. Highway 87
  • U.S. Highway 180
  • Texas State Highway 83
  • Texas State Highway 137

Cities

Formed From

  • Dawson County was created 1 February 1858 from Bexar Land District

Economic Resources

  • A powdered-milk plant built in 1929, closed by the depression, began 1932 making powdered eggs. Egg-drying plant turned its entire facilities over to lend-lease production.
  • Oil development began in 1934, 28 wells in the Welch community, 2 in SE part of the county in 1946 with other intermittent wildcatting. [13]
  • 1903 saw the first bale of cotton for Dawson County, though cotton production did not really take off until the mid-1910s. By the 1930s over sixty percent of the county's cropland was cotton. But the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression hit the area hard. By 1940 sorghum was the main crop, but over the next decades, cotton again became king. [14]

Census

1880 --- 24 —
1890 --- 29 20.8%
1900 --- 37 27.6%
1910 --- 2,320 6,170.3%
1920 --- 4,309 85.7%
1930 --- 13,573 215.0%
1940 --- 15,367 13.2%
1950 --- 19,113 24.4%
1960 --- 19,185 0.4%
1970 --- 16,604 −13.5%
1980 --- 16,184 −2.5%
1990 --- 14,349 −11.3%
2000 --- 14,985 4.4%
2010 --- 13,833 −7.7%
Est. 2015 --- 13,520

Notables

Land Grants
  • A portion of the future county was included in a Mexican grant issued to Dr. John Cameron on May 21, 1827. Cameron contracted to settle 100 families, but there is no record of any attempt to carry out the contract. https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcd03

Cemeteries


Sources

  1. ↑ https://texasalmanac.com/topics/government/dawson-county
  2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson_County,_Texas
  3. ↑ http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Lamesa/Dawson-County-Courthouse-Murals-Lamesa-Texas.htm
  4. ↑ http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txdawson/
  5. ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcd03
  6. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson_County,_Texas
  7. ↑ http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Lamesa/Dawson-County-Courthouse-Lamesa-Texas.htm
  8. ↑ “Dawson County.” Texas Almanac, Texas State Historical Association, 2018, https://texasalmanac.com/topics/government/dawson-county.
  9. ↑ “Top Employers.” Lamesa Economic Development, 2019, https://www.lamesadevelopment.org/top-employers.
  10. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson_County,_Texas
  11. ↑ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcd03
  12. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_county
  13. ↑ Oil and Gas
  14. ↑ Gelin, Leona M, and Mark Odintz. “Dawson County.” Handbook of Texas, Texas State History Association, 2020, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/dawson-county.




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Dawson County, Texas Image 5
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Comments: 3

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Smith-54309 Stacy (Smith) Aannestad
I feel like cotton should have a big section here -- my mom and grandparents lived in Lamesa and cotton was the big economic resource there, at least from the 40s through the 90s. We always drove through a lot of cotton fields to visit my grandparents.
posted by Stacy (Smith) Aannestad
Richardson-7161 Mary Richardson
Thank you Stacy,

I edited the Dawson County and added your comment.

Thanks

Mary - Texas Project Coordinator

posted by Mary Richardson
Smith-54309 Stacy (Smith) Aannestad
Thank you! You've done a beautiful job with this page, BTW. I'm super impressed! I don't know if you want to add this, but I just complete an FSP for the Lamesa Memorial Park/Dawson County Cemetery. Here's the URL: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:LamesaMemorialParkCemetery
posted by Stacy (Smith) Aannestad

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