Town of Dawson
Dawson, Navarro County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This community grew out of Spring Hill (4 mi. NE), the oldest settlement in Navarro County. A Republic of Texas Indian agent, Dr. George Washington Hill, started Spring Hill in 1838 as a trading post to improve relationships with the Indians. When Britton Dawson (1817-1905) came to Texas, he lived first in Jasper County. He settled at Spring Hill in 1846 on land he received as bounty for his service in the Battle of San Jacinto. Married twice and the father of 13 children, Dawson moved here in 1847 and later built a large home that served as a stagecoach stop. In 1881 the Texas & St. Louis Railroad, known later as the "Cotton Belt," came through here on its route from Tyler to Waco. Dawson's sons, David E. and W. H., and their wives gave 100 acres in 1881 for a townsite on the new railroad. Named for the Dawsons, the town grew rapidly. Residents of Spring Hill, excited about business prospects, moved here. The railroad promptly set up a box car for a depot. Churches and schools were established immediately. Many merchants as well as the Masonic Lodge moved here from Spring Hill. This shift of population caused the Spring Hill community to decline while Dawson flourished.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Dawson grew out of Spring Hill, the oldest settlement in Navarro County, which Republic of Texas Indian agent Dr. George Washington Hill founded in 1838 as a trading post to ease relations with Native peoples. Britton Dawson, a San Jacinto veteran who claimed his land as service bounty, settled at Spring Hill in 1846 and built a home that served as a stagecoach stop. When the Texas & St. Louis Railroad — the "Cotton Belt" — laid tracks through in 1881, Dawson's sons donated 100 acres for a townsite, and the population of Spring Hill promptly picked up and moved to the new railroad town.
Why it matters
The town's rise and Spring Hill's decline illustrate how the railroad, more than any battle or treaty, decided which Texas communities would flourish and which would fade.
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Related people
- · Britton Dawson
- · George Washington Hill
Related events
- · Battle of San Jacinto
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Britton Dawson Home
Dawson, TX
Rewarded with a bounty of Navarro County land for fighting at San Jacinto in 1836, cattleman Britton Dawson settled here in 1847 and first lived in a three-room cabin. In 1858–59 he raised a two-and-a-half-story Greek Revival house of cypress hauled by oxcart from the Gulf Coast, complete with an unusual suspended second-floor gallery; the home sheltered his large family and doubled as a stage stop, and his sons later gave land for the town of Dawson.
Former Site of Liberty Hill Settlement
Dawson, TX
Liberty Hill grew up in the 1840s as an Anglo-American farming community, taking firmer root when Samuel and Prudence Wright arrived from Tennessee in 1849 and drew in pioneer neighbors. By 1860 several founding families had organized a Cumberland Presbyterian church, and Wright later donated land for a cemetery and a public school. When the railroad towns of Dawson and Hubbard rose as Cotton Belt shipping points, they drained away Liberty Hill's population until its school and church closed and the fields returned to grazing.
United Methodist Church of Coolidge
Coolidge, TX
This Methodist congregation began in the thinly settled Armour community in 1873, its handful of charter members raising a one-room frame church with a spire and belfry the following year. When the Trinity & Brazos Valley Railroad bypassed Armour, the congregation simply moved its building to the new town of Coolidge in 1904, and in 1922 replaced it with the present edifice. The story traces how rail lines redrew the map of rural Texas, drawing settlement to the tracks.
Armour Cemetery
Coolidge, TX
Established in 1878 on land deeded by community founder James Armour—a Georgia-born Civil War veteran—this cemetery served the settlement that grew into the town of Sandy Creek, later called Armour. By 1884 the community had churches, a school, and gristmills, but it declined swiftly after 1903 when the railroad founded nearby Coolidge and businesses moved away. Divided into distinct sections, including a Norwegian and a Catholic "Mexican" cemetery, it is the last remaining trace of the vanished community.