Pape-Dawson Engineers’ Family Owners and Employees Build Better Communities

For nearly 60 years, Pape-Dawson Engineers Inc. has provided civil engineering, environmental and surveying support to thousands of projects that have improved numerous community footprints.

But its family owners also have sought to contribute to those communities in other ways through their own philanthropy and through what they have inspired of others, including Pape-Dawson’s charitable foundation and the firm’s 700 employees in their volunteer efforts (see photo below). Nonprofit organizations—from food banks and mentoring programs to housing assistance and child advocacy groups—have been key beneficiaries. Last year, Pape-Dawson also raised and donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities across Texas.

The company, with eight Texas offices, was selected last year as ENR Texas & Louisiana Design Firm of the Year. “We try to maintain a high level of engagement with nonprofits in our markets through volunteerism and sponsorships, and we established the foundation to help funnel employees’ direct donations to make a significant impact to the operations of these organizations,” Mark Ramseur, Pape-Dawson managing principal in central Texas, said in the 2022 ENR company profile. “Firmwide, we are relentlessly focused on bettering the communities we live and work in.”

Photo courtesy of Pape-Dawson

That filters from the top. “If all we do is go to work and put projects on the ground, we are not successful. We must give back to our community and inspire others to do the same,” says Sam Dawson, CEO of Pape-Dawson and a second-generation family owner.

The family has recently turned its attention to combating the growth of hatred in the U.S. “The problem of injustice, anger and intolerance is not a political issue, it’s a heart issue,” Dawson says. “We need to spend a lot less time worrying about the politics of people and more time focused on the hearts of people.”

For its efforts to spread that message, the family recently was the inaugural recipient of the Mildred and Oscar Ehrenberg Holocaust Memorial Museum Humanitarian Award, given by the San Antonio Holocaust Memorial Museum. Those honored included (in photo above, left to right) Dawson’s parents Mary Duane Dawson and Gene Dawson Sr., Gene Jr., who is company president, and wife Claire, Laura Dawson and husband Sam Dawson).

“The Dawsons exemplify the values of living a life of honesty, integrity and responsibility,” Leslie Davis Met, museum director, told ENR. “They believe in the importance of fighting injustice and unfairness, leading by example and creating a legacy of being upstanders.”

For the Dawsons, this is a tradition instilled by Mary Duane and Gene Sr. since Pape-Dawson started in 1965.

“Community involvement and giving back has always been core to my family, and we’ve been careful to maintain a strong focus on that in all facets of our lives, including the company,” says Sam Dawson. “While staying in the black is vital to its survival, showing gratitude is just as important.”

Gene Jr. adds “it has been our honor to support the important work of charitable, civic and cultural organizations for almost six decades. We are extremely proud of the impact these partnerships have made, but there is still work to do.”

Texas Road Job Digs Up 19th-Century Artifacts

When the Texas Dept. of Transportation decided to widen Denton County’s Farm-to-Market Road 455, it appeared to be a straightforward project. That changed during initial environmental study when project team members began finding 19th-century artifacts.

Walking along the project’s right-of-way, agency staffers—having already researched the location’s history—performed tests with shovels and a backhoe to examine the site. Through numerous shovel tests, TxDOT found numerous small relics and verified the site as the location of the historic Sartin Hotel, which operated in the 19th century.

“Based on our findings, the next step was to conduct a small-scale excavation, which is when we discovered the hotel’s foundation,” says Travis Campbell, director of transportation planning and development for the agency’s Dallas district. That excavation confirmed the site’s significance, he says, “so we conducted a full-scale data recovery excavation.” That effort unearthed the location of an old blacksmith shop across the road through buried iron artifacts found in shovel tests, with their historical significance verified (see photo).

TxDOT now has teamed with archaeologists from consulting firm Stantec to unearth the artifacts that once were part of a Black-owned blacksmith shop, including tools, horse and mule shoes and a ceramic smoking pipe. Doug Boyd, Stantec senior archaeologist, said this is the first excavation of such a 19th-century blacksmith shop in Texas. The family of the owner, a former slave named Tom Cook who was freed in 1865 and died in 1898, has lived in Denton County for more than 150 years. Cook purchased a blacksmith shop in Bolivar, a once-thriving frontier town along the Chisholm Trail. Boyd said family and community members helped capture new knowledge and perspectives about the area’s past. “This isn’t a story you find in any history book,” he said.