Lawson’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold just one old photo of Lawson. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Lawson was founded in 1870 and was named for New York businessman L. M. Lawson. A post office called Lawson has been in operation since 1876.
Lawson is home to Ray County's oldest bank, Lawson Bank, founded in 1883. Interesting sites near Lawson include the historic Watkins Mill (now a Missouri state park and National Historic Landmark) and KC-10L, a Nike missile base, located a mile east of Lawson (Nov 1959 - Feb 1964).
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Start Lawson’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lawson’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🗓️Date a photo1 archive item has no date+2 🔁Retake an old viewWatkins Mill, County Highway MM: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Lawson
See all 1 →Lawson, decade by decade
2000
unknown1 item
Nothing in Lawson is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Lawson has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Watkins Mill in Lawson, 2.8 miles away.
Lawson and the nearest listed places
Closest to Lawson
How a place gets listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Watkins Mill, County Highway MM and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (1) and the Library of Congress (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.