Dawson Companies history

Dawson’s legacy spans three generations, beginning in 1950 when Jack Dawson, joined his father as a jobsite laborer on projects across Southeast Alaska.

Founded in 1952 by L. Decker Dawson, Dawson Geophysical is a story rooted in Texas history and the pioneer spirit of the North American oil industry.

In 1963 Abel Heywood & Son, Ltd. of Manchester was purchased, giving the firm one of northwest England's three largest wholesale agencies.

Don Singer formed Singer Architects in 1964 to offer architecture and planning services in Florida state.

Dan Lyman Russell, a graduate of Syracuse University, and Robert M. Dawson, III, a graduate of M.I.T., founded the partnership of Russell and Dawson in September of 1965 in Hartford, Connecticut to provide a unique combination of total architecture and engineering professional design service.

In 1967 Jack founded Dawson Construction Company, serving Southeast Alaska and Northwest Washington.

In 1969, he formed the Harold A. Dawson Company (HADCO), where he remains today as CEO. HADCO has grown from its early years of selling homes in the Atlanta area to developing multi-million dollar properties across the United States.

In 1985 Dawson Holdings acquired McGregor Subscription, Inc. of the United States, a library services firm.

Dawson also added to its book distribution business through the 1991 acquisition of Bumpus, Haldane & Maxwell Ltd.'s book wholesaling operations.

When Dawson was diagnosed with cancer in 1992, his son, Harold Dawson, Jr., returned to Atlanta to join the business.

In 1993 Dawson Europe won a contract to market OCLC's FirstSearch online news and journal database to its European customers.

Our most unique project was a Fish Hatchery built in Russia in 1994, using Russian labor and an Alaskan project management team.

In June 1995 Dawson began selling shares on the London Stock Exchange's newly formed Alternative Investment Market.

1996: Remaining portion of Surridge Dawson is purchased from P.W.J. Surridge.

Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, Pete Dawson began as a construction laborer and learned every aspect of the business, transitioning into ownership of Dawson in 1997.

As a company that believes in continuous improvement, Dawson joined the National Construction Solutions Group™ (NCSG), which was founded in 1998.

The publicly traded company sold off its library services and academic journal subscription fulfillment subsidiaries in 1999.

Dawson Logistics was founded in 2000 on the commitment to exceed customer expectation at every touchpoint.

The book division had grown to include four subsidiaries by 2001, located in France, England, Spain, and the United States.

In October 2007, Chirag B. Thaker was named President of Russell and Dawson, LLC.

In February of 2015, Dawson completed a strategic business combination with TGC Industries, Inc. a seismic data acquisition company with operations in the United States and Canada.