BlockBefore

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.

Dawson within Navarro County

Population over time

3 figures

Dawson 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.

YearPeople Change
2000852
2010807-45 (-5%)
2020815+8 (+1%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 7 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

110 since 2006

Regional 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 burning53
Missing data/not specified/undetermined33
Equipment and vehicle use13
Arson/incendiarism4
Smoking3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Recreation and ceremony1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
8 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined40 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceMALONE GRASS FIRE
5 September 2011Arson/incendiarism5.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceREKINDLE COUNTY LINE FIRE
4 September 2017Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceGRASS FIRE
4 September 2011Debris and open burning350 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceCOUTNY LINE RD
30 September 2016Debris and open burning1.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceGRASS FIRE
3 September 2011Arson/incendiarism3.0 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceNAVARRO MILLS DAM FIRE
28 September 2015Debris and open burning25 acresTexas A & M Forest ServiceGRASS FIRE-MUTUAL AID
28 September 2008Debris and open burning2.0 acresTexas A & M Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Navarro County

Storms near this place

24 since 1993

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2010Flash FloodDawson$1,850,000Significant 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 2010Thunderstorm WindDawson$75,000Numerous 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 2020Thunderstorm WindDawson$5,000Several tree limbs and trees were damaged by thunderstorm winds in the western part of Navarro County. Some barns and outbuildings were also damaged.
October 1993Thunderstorm WindDawson$5,000Trees were blown down by thunderstorm winds.
February 2008HailDawson$5,000no account filed
June 2025Flash FloodDawson$1,000EM reported 5 to 6 inches of water over FM 1838 south of Dawson.
May 2025HailDawson-Emergency manager reported 1 inch hail in Dawson.
April 2018HailDawson-Emergency management reported penny sized hail in the city of Dawson, TX.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindDawson-Thunderstorm winds downed trees. No dollar estimate of damage was reported.
May 1997Tornado (F1)Dawson-A storm spotter reported a tornado south of town. Large trees were uprooted by the tornado.
April 1995HailDawson-County roads were washed out by heavy rain.
April 1995HailDawson-County roads were washed out by heavy rain.
June 1994Thunderstorm WindDawson-Outflow winds gusted to 60 miles per hour at Union High 7 (SE Dawson).
April 2015HailDawson-no account filed
April 2008HailDawson-no account filed
December 2002Thunderstorm WindDawson-no account filed
May 2002Thunderstorm WindDawson-no account filed
May 2001HailDawson-no account filed
March 2000HailDawson-no account filed
March 2000HailDawson-no account filed
May 1997Thunderstorm WindDawson-no account filed
May 1997HailDawson-no account filed
April 1996HailDawson-no account filed
November 1996Thunderstorm WindDawson-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Navarro County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Spring Hill2.9 miles7
Navarro Mills4.7 miles7
Eldorado Center5.5 miles7
Purdon6.4 miles7
Pelham6.6 miles8
Silver City6.8 miles7
Union High7.1 miles6
Brushie Prairie7.2 miles8

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 DawsonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q973451The 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.