DENISON

city, Grayson county, north-central Texas, U.S. Denison is situated near Sherman and Lake Texoma (impounded on the Red River by Denison Dam) near the Oklahoma border, 73 miles (117 km) north of Dallas. Originally a stop on the Southern Overland Mail Route, it was organized by the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad in 1872 as a division point and named for George Denison, a railroad director. Its economy is basically agricultural, augmented by light industry (chiefly clothing, aluminum, and plastic products), transportation, and tourism based on the Lake Texoma resort area, Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, and Eisenhower State Park. The birthplace (1890) of President Dwight D. Eisenhower is preserved as a state historic site. Inc. 1891. Pop. (1990) city, 21,505; Sherman-Denison MSA, 95,021; (1994 est.) city, 21,498; (1995 est.) Sherman-Denison MSA, 98,336.