Dawson

Formed August 21, 1876 (184^th county)

Dawson County (13,833), Lamesa (9,422)

The Texas Renaissance courthouse of Dawson County is located west of United States Highways 87 and 180 on the square at Main and 1^st streets.  Built in 1916, the red brick building was designed by Sanguinet and Staats.  There was a significant remodeling of the structure in 1952 and an Annex was added.  It was again restored in 1975.  Both county courthouses that have existed since the August 21, 1876 organization have been in Lamesa.  Dawson County was cut from Bexar County as the 184^th county.  The county’s namesake is Nicholas Mosby Dawson, a Texas revolutionary killed at the Battle of Salado.  Lamesa is a geographical name for the flat countryside around the area.  Lamesa means “table” in Spanish. 

Dawson County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners.  One District Court Judge serves Dawson, Gaines, Garza, and Lynn counties and One County Court Judge serves Dawson County.  The county is situated in the panhandle south of Lubbock, Texas.  The county center is 2 miles North of Lamesa.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Lynn, Borden, Howard, Martin, Andrews, Gaines, and Terry counties. 

The area of the county is 902 square miles.  It is 158 out of 254 in the state.  It ranks 147 out of 254 in population in the state.  It has a density of 15.34 persons per square mile making it 147 out of 254 in the state.  Dawson County has 70.3% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 87 transits from the northeast, Lynn County, and goes to the southeast, Martin County.  United States Highway 180 crosses east to west from Borden County to Gaines County.  The county is a square shape with Lamesa approximately in the center.  Lamesa is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 68.1% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced LA-MEE-SA.  This county is in the Lamesa Micropolitan Statistical Area.

O’Donnell