Dawson, Texas
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Dawson census division. It lies in ZIP code area 76639. It stands on Larkin Hill Creek. The Survey maps it on the Dawson quadrangle. 815 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 482 feet above sea level.
Population over time
3 figuresDawson fell from 852 to 815 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 852 | |
| 2010 | 807 | -45 (-5%) |
| 2020 | 815 | +8 (+1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 7 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1954 USGS Waco quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Waco quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Dawson quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Mexia quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
110 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 110 fires within 5 miles of Dawson between 2006 and 2019, burning about 1,344 acres in total. None started naturally. 4 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 53 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 33 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 13 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 4 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | MALONE GRASS FIRE |
| 5 September 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 5.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | REKINDLE COUNTY LINE FIRE |
| 4 September 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE |
| 4 September 2011 | Debris and open burning | 350 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | COUTNY LINE RD |
| 30 September 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE |
| 3 September 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | NAVARRO MILLS DAM FIRE |
| 28 September 2015 | Debris and open burning | 25 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | GRASS FIRE-MUTUAL AID |
| 28 September 2008 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Texas A & M Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
24 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Dawson in 24 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 12 hail, 9 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2010 | Flash Flood | Dawson | $1,850,000 | Significant flash flooding occurred in the southern parts of Navarro County as portions of the county received up to 14 inches of rainfall. Over twenty high water rescues were conducted by volunteer fire departments throughout the county. Many of the rescues were in the southwest parts of the county, near the town of Dawson. Both roads into the city of Dawson were blocked due to high water. This included Farm-to-Market Road 709 and Farm-to-Market Road 1838. Several homes in the towns of Pursley and Union High had water in them. Many roads in the southern parts of the county received damage and several bridges were washed away. Additional flooding near the town of Kerens was also reported. Farm-to-Market Road 309 near highway 287 was impassible due to high water. Flood waters also destroyed property throughout the county and preliminary damage estimates totaled 1.85 million dollars. |
| April 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dawson | $75,000 | Numerous large trees were blown down from thunderstorm winds in a large swath starting from near Dawson and ending near Kerens. Some of these trees blocked roads or fell on cars and other structures. |
| April 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dawson | $5,000 | Several tree limbs and trees were damaged by thunderstorm winds in the western part of Navarro County. Some barns and outbuildings were also damaged. |
| October 1993 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dawson | $5,000 | Trees were blown down by thunderstorm winds. |
| February 2008 | Hail | Dawson | $5,000 | no account filed |
| June 2025 | Flash Flood | Dawson | $1,000 | EM reported 5 to 6 inches of water over FM 1838 south of Dawson. |
| May 2025 | Hail | Dawson | - | Emergency manager reported 1 inch hail in Dawson. |
| April 2018 | Hail | Dawson | - | Emergency management reported penny sized hail in the city of Dawson, TX. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dawson | - | Thunderstorm winds downed trees. No dollar estimate of damage was reported. |
| May 1997 | Tornado (F1) | Dawson | - | A storm spotter reported a tornado south of town. Large trees were uprooted by the tornado. |
| April 1995 | Hail | Dawson | - | County roads were washed out by heavy rain. |
| April 1995 | Hail | Dawson | - | County roads were washed out by heavy rain. |
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dawson | - | Outflow winds gusted to 60 miles per hour at Union High 7 (SE Dawson). |
| April 2015 | Hail | Dawson | - | no account filed |
| April 2008 | Hail | Dawson | - | no account filed |
| December 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dawson | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dawson | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Dawson | - | no account filed |
| March 2000 | Hail | Dawson | - | no account filed |
| March 2000 | Hail | Dawson | - | no account filed |
| May 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dawson | - | no account filed |
| May 1997 | Hail | Dawson | - | no account filed |
| April 1996 | Hail | Dawson | - | no account filed |
| November 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dawson | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Hill | 2.9 miles | 7 | |
| Navarro Mills | 4.7 miles | 7 | |
| Eldorado Center | 5.5 miles | 7 | |
| Purdon | 6.4 miles | 7 | |
| Pelham | 6.6 miles | 8 | |
| Silver City | 6.8 miles | 7 | |
| Union High | 7.1 miles | 6 | |
| Brushie Prairie | 7.2 miles | 8 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Dawson | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q973451 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1334106. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.



