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It took over 1900 years to be dogma, why so long?

Apparently because it was largely unknown.

Is a person damned to hell because one questions the Assumption?

The ground for believing a matter of faith is the authority of the source of the matter. If the Church states that something is infallibly true, to doubt it is to doubt the authority of the Church, and thus to doubt the ground for all the doctrines of the faith. The doctrines of the Church are not known in the way in which scientific truths are known, through evidence, experimentation, induction, abduction, verification, etc. They are known by believing in the authority (and hence trustworthiness) of their source.

-A8

"It is forbidden to any man to change this, Our declaration, pronouncement, and definition or, by rash attempt, to oppose and counter it. If any man should presume to make such an attempt, let him know that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul"--Munificentissimus Deus, Selected Documenst of Pope Pius XII

Since unbelief in the Assumption "Apparently because it was largely unknown" leads to hell I would say this is a big dilemma. Is Mary the central teaching of the Church, after all it's a damnable offense? So I guess we are back to Sola Ecclesia, but wait!

Lets look at someone who lived closer to the times:"But if some think us mistaken, let them search the Scriptures. They will not find Mary’s death; they will not find whether she died or did not die; they will not find whether she was buried or was not buried ... Scripture is absolutely silent [on the end of Mary] ... For my own part, I do not dare to speak, but I keep my own thoughts and I practice silence ... The fact is, Scripture has outstripped the human mind and left [this matter] uncertain ... Did she die, we do not know ... Either the holy Virgin died and was buried ... Or she was killed ... Or she remained alive, since nothing is impossible with God and He can do whatever He desires; for her end no-one knows." Epiphanius 377 AD

Jerome never mentioned any tradition about the Assumption either and he lived, just like Epiphanius, right smack in the middle of it all. Pope Pius XII must know better than the early Church Fathers.