Editing Dawson, Pennsylvania (section)

==History==
[[File:James Cochran House Dawson 2011.jpg|thumb|left|James Cochran House (c. 1890)]]
The land where Dawson was developed had belonged to John Smilie, who held multiple public offices in the government of Pennsylvania and was a member of [[United States Congress|Congress]] when he died in December 1812. The property remained in a trust as a part of Smilie's estate, until his last child died in 1851, when the property was sold.

The "bottom land" where Dawson is situated was acquired by John Smilie's granddaughter, Sarah Huston Dawson, and her second husband, George Dawson.

The Smilie farm, except the river bottom, was sold to Stewart Strickler. The bottom land was sold to George Dawson, who used it for purposes of cultivation. The Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad was located through the tract, and upon the opening of the line Dawson's Station was established at this point. A post office was established at the same time.

The property passed, in the division of the Dawson estate, to Mrs. Alfred [Elizabeth Dawson] Howell, and in 1866 a town plat was laid out and surveyed by Martin Dickson for Mr. Howell.<ref>Franklin Ellis (ed.) ''[https://archive.org/details/historyoffayette00elli/page/800/mode/1up History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania]''. Philadelphia: Everts, 1882, p. 800.</ref>

Alfred Howell arranged for the tract to be duly surveyed and laid out into building lots, and so conducted his enterprise as in the course of a few years to erect a prosperous and desirable village, with churches, public schools, etc., upon what was before, and but for his business foresight and energy would have remained, merely an uninhabitable portion of an old farm.<ref>Franklin Ellis (ed.) ''[https://archive.org/details/historyoffayette00elli/page/352/mode/1up History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania]''. Philadelphia: Everts, 1882, p. 352.</ref>