Pape-Dawson

Pape-Dawson is a San Antonio civil engineering firm that Gus Pape and Gene Dawson Sr. started in August 1965, each putting in $3,000 and giving themselves six months to make it work. They did. The firm grew to more than 1,000 employees across Texas by 2020 and has since pushed into Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Tennessee and other states by partnering with like-minded firms. Land development’s still its core, but it’s also doing transportation, water and wastewater, stormwater, surveying, aviation, structural, power and environmental work. It’s the civil engineer on the 217,758-square-foot Standex GRID / Amran instrument transformer plant at CityPark Logistics Center in Missouri City, Texas, where the developer says permits came through within a month of the lease being signed.