Lawson was on a branch of South Mesquite Creek five miles southeast of Mesquite and fifteen miles southeast of Dallas in southeastern Dallas County. When it was settled, around 1847, it was called Slapfoot for its wild Saturday night dancing. The settlement took the name Haught's Store for a store owned by Mexican Warqv veteran Samuel A. Haught when it obtained a post office in 1866. Haught also owned a steam gristmill, a cotton gin, and a sawmill.
In 1885 the settlement had a population of fifty; by 1890 it had seventy residents and by 1896, 100. Haught had left by 1890, when W. H. Cundipp owned the general store. In 1896 the store was owned by H. W. Lawson; the name of the post office was changed to Lawson the following year and closed in 1905. In 1910 the population was forty-one. In 1933 Lawson had seventy-two residents and three businesses. In 1964 the population was 110. Lawson was shown on county maps until at least 1975, but by 1982 the area had been annexed by Mesquite.