My favourite tree is the Silk Tree, Albizia julibrissin. It doesn't have the fall colour, but it is fast growing, has the right canopy for you, lovely pink flowers and an interesting habit. At night time, the leaves fold themselves up into a narrow strip. We have one that is just 5 years old and it is roof top height now and I love it. Very pretty, and pretty shade. It was winter damaged last year -- lots of little dead twigs, but it has come back well and is loaded with flowers right now. It blooms until late autumn. One bad habit: it drops a lot of stuff, dead flowers and leaves. They rot easily so are not difficult to remove but they look messy on my patio.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Nothing fast about the growth rate of dogwoods :-)

Raywood ash (Fraxinus oxycarpa 'Raywood') might be a nice choice - rapid growth, excellent reddish purple fall foliage and great foliage texture. And relatively drought tolerant once established. May eventually grow somewhat larger than your intended height but that'll take time.

Katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) is another great fall color shade tree with a moderately rapid growth rate but miminal drought tolerance (although there is a gorgeous mature one at my current location that gets NO supplemental irrigation and appears unscathed by both the current heat and dryness). Parrotia or oxydendrum have great fall color and good drought tolerance once established but are not fast growing. Parrotia will eventually present a flatter canopy than the others suggested. Paperbark maple is another possibility but doesn't meet either the rapid growth or drought tolerant requirements.

Named selection of Zelkova with known good fall color.

Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo) is drought tolerant and has amazing fall color. when they are mature, they have a nice wide canopy, but start out pyramidal.

Thanks for the input guys! I'll check out those trees!

I was gonna say Albizzia, too. Tiny leaves that you couldn't rake, drought tolerant with fluffy pink blooms and a wide canopy. They're fast growing but need training. Mine has been pristine so I guess I'm fortunate.
How about Red Cascade Mt Ash? It's sterile. Doe's it look good? Better go take a look.
I'd feel safe about planting it 6 feet from your house.
It won't shade your house but it might shade your sitting area.

Dotty- is your tree tall enough to walk under? Ideally I'd like something that I don't have to bend down to walk under.

Yes, it would be easy to keep the canopy high enough to walk under. I just took a picture of it today -- it's in full bloom and lovely. I'm surprised it's doing so well given the twig die back it had last winter and the lack of water we have had all of this year. Very messy underneath but a grass catcher would pick it up just fine, or if you want plants under it, epimedium is wonderful. You can just brush the dead flowers under it -- sort of like sweeping the dust under the carpet.

Here is a link that might be useful:

i guess its cause they are in bloom now, but i've been loving silk trees lately. most are WIDE FLAT CANOPY to a T.

however, i really have them in my head as a summer tree. fall foliage has never really struck me.

That's because there isn't any.