Dawson County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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 sove ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. As of the 2020 census, its population was 12,456. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

is Lamesa. The county was created in 1876 and later organized in 1905. It is named for

Nicholas Mosby Dawson The Dawson massacre, also called the Dawson expedition, was an incident in which 36 Texian militiamen were killed by Mexican soldiers on September 17, 1842 near San Antonio de Bexar (now the U.S. city of San Antonio, Texas). The event occurred ...

, a soldier of the Texas Revolution. Dawson County comprises the Lamesa, TX Micropolitan Statistical Area (μSA), and it is the smallest Micropolitan Statistical Area in the United States.

History

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. In 1943, the discovery well for the Spraberry Trend, the third-largest oil field in the United States by remaining reserves, was drilled in Dawson County on land owned by farmer Abner Spraberry, for whom the geological formation and associated field were named. While most of the oil fields are in the counties to the south, a small portion of the Spraberry Trend is in Dawson County. Production on the field did not begin until 1949, and by 1951, an oil boom was underway in the area, with Midland at its center. Like all Texas counties as stipulated in the Texas Constitution of 1876, Dawson County has four commissioners chosen by single-member district and a countywide-elected county judge, the chief administrator of the county. James Edward "J. E." Airhart, Sr. (1915-2007), served for 30 years from 1935 to 1985 on the Dawson County Commissioners Court, in which capacity he worked to obtain the county

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animal ...

and fair barn, the

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

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 The O'Donnell dynasty ( ga, Ó Dónaill or ''Ó Domhnaill,'' ''Ó Doṁnaill'' ''or Ua Domaill;'' meaning "descendant of Dónal") were the dominant Irish clan of the kingdom of Tyrconnell, Ulster, in medieval Ireland. Naming conventions Or ...

and south to Ackerly. A

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer m ...

and rancher, Airhart also served on the board of the Klondike Independent School District and was a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

. 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 County Independent School District. Donald Ray Airhart (1937-2017) was a cattleman in Dawson County who like his father, served on the Klondike School Board and worked with youth in stock shows and other agricultural pursuits.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of , of which are land and (0.2%) are covered by water.

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 87 * U.S. Highway 180 * State Highway 83 * State Highway 137

Adjacent counties

* Lynn County (north) * Borden County (east) * Howard County (southeast) * Martin County (south) * Gaines County (west) * Terry County (northwest)

Demographics

''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.'' As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 2000, 14,985 people, 4,726 households, and 3,501 families resided in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

was 17 people per square mile (6/km²). There were 5,500 housing units at an average density of 6 per square mile (2/km²). The

racial makeup A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

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 or Latino of any race. Of the 4,726 households, 35.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.40% were married couples living together, 11.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.90% were not families. About 23.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.69 and the average family size was 3.20. In the county, the population was distributed as 25.60% under the age of 18, 8.90% from 18 to 24, 30.70% from 25 to 44, 20.50% from 45 to 64, and 14.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 124.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 129.90 males. The median income for a household in the county was $28,211, and for a family was $32,745. Males had a median income of $27,259 versus $16,739 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the county was $15,011. About 16.40% of families and 19.70% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 29.20% of those under age 18 and 12.80% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

* Ackerly (partly in Martin County) * Lamesa (county seat) * Los Ybanez *

(mostly in Lynn County)

Census-designated place

* Welch

Unincorporated communities

* Klondike *

Patricia Patricia is a female given name of Latin origin. Derived from the Latin word ''patrician'', meaning "noble"; it is the feminine form of the masculine given name Patrick. The name Patricia was the second most common female name in the United State ...

Politics

Education

School districts serving the county include: * Dawson Independent School District * Klondike Independent School District * Lamesa Independent School District * O'Donnell Independent School District * Sands Consolidated Independent School District The county is in the service area of Howard County Junior College.Texas Education Code, Sec. 130.183. HOWARD COUNTY JUNIOR COLLEGE DISTRICT SERVICE AREA.
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References

External links

Dawson County government’s website

Dawson County in ''Handbook of Texas Online''
at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

TXGenWeb Project for Dawson County

Dawson County History
at HistoricTexas.net {{authority control 1905 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1905 Majority-minority counties in Texas