ABOUT

Lawson is a city in Clay and Ray counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. The population was 2,473 at the 2010 census. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.59 square miles (6.71 km²), of which, 2.53 square miles (6.55 km²) is land and 0.06 square miles (0.16 km²) is water.

History
Lawson was founded in 1870 and was named for New York businessman L. M. Lawson.Lawson is home to Ray County's oldest bank, Lawson Bank, founded in 1883. The bank recovered from a devastating fire in 1914 and still stands at 4th & Penn today. Other interesting sites in Lawson include the historic Watkins Mill (now a Missouri state park and National Historic Landmark) and Ray County's longest continuously in-print newspaper, The Lawson Review. KC-10L, a Nike missile base, is located a mile east of Lawson (Nov 1959 - Feb 1964).