Editing Dawson Springs, Kentucky (section)

==History==
Originally known as '''Tradewater Bend''', the city was incorporated in 1832 under the name '''Dawson City''' by two Menser brothers.

From the late 1800s to the 1930s, Dawson Springs was well known as a spa and resort town. Visitors largely came in spring from Chicago, Louisville and points east for the curative waters, and several major hotels and boarding houses were constructed. Tourism peaked in 1901 when over 50,000 visitors came to the town of a few thousand people. The [[Pittsburgh Pirates]] held spring training there in the 1910s before being lured to [[St. Petersburg, Florida]] when the [[Grapefruit League]] formed. The advent of car travel ended the spa era as travelers began to drive to more southerly vacation spots.

Outwood Veterans Hospital was constructed here in 1922,<ref>[http://digital.library.louisville.edu/cdm/ref/collection/heraldpost/id/833# Outwood Veterans Hospital, Dawson Springs, Kentucky, 1922.], accessed February 2018.</ref> and the economy strengthened with the onset of coal mining at Dawson Daylight Mine. The town diversified with light manufacturing in the mid-20th century, but was devastated by the outflow of those industrial jobs when [[NAFTA]] was passed in the 1990s and those manufacturing jobs moved to Mexico.

Dawson Springs is still a regional tourist destination because of the [[Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park]], which began construction where a local river was dammed and a lake formed in the 1930s. The town was named Kentucky's first Trail Town due to hiking and horse riding trails in the area.

===2021 tornado===
{{main|2021 Western Kentucky tornado}}
In the late evening of December 10, 2021, a large swath of the city was destroyed by an [[Enhanced Fujita scale|EF4]] tornado, and a [[tornado emergency]] was issued for Dawson Springs and the surrounding [[St. Charles, Kentucky|St. Charles]] as the storm moved through the area. As a result, 19 people died.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2021/12/11/dawson-springs-kentucky-works-come-grips-tornados-wrath/6479525001/|title='The whole place was gone': Dawson Springs works to come to grips with tornado's wrath|first=Jimmy|last=Settle|website=The Courier-Journal}}</ref><ref>[https://www.wdrb.com/news/13-dead-more-than-100-unaccounted-for-after-tornado-rips-through-dawson-springs-ky/article_b1ed78d8-5ba2-11ec-8f8c-f7ef993c1eb6.html 13 dead, more than 100 unaccounted for after tornado rips through Dawson Springs, Ky.], accessed December 12th, 2021.</ref>