In March of 1874 a post office was established in Hillsborough, the next month it was renamed Dunlap after Joseph Dunlap, an Indian agent for the Kaw tribe.

Benjamin “Pap” Singleton chose Dunlap for his second Singleton Colony, as home for freedmen who had come from Tennessee because of available land under the Homestead Act.  Hundreds of Exodusters arrived in Dunlap.  The Presbyterian Church founded the Freedman Academy of KS to provide education to the settlers, however the school closed it’s door in the 1890’s.

Population in 1910 was over 300, during this time there was a blacksmith shop, hardware, grocery store, ice cream parlor, flour mill, butter and cheese factors, restaurant, bank, hotel, and numerous churches.

When the exodusters first arrived the white community resented them and they had separate schools, churches and cemeteries.  However by 1930, the white and blacks were no longer segregated and lived together peacefully in the beautiful Neosho River Valley.

Dunlap is currently home to approximately 30 people.

Main Street

Native stone sidewalk along Main Street

White Cemetery Dunlap, KS

Black Cemetery about 1 mile north of the white cemetery

Many of the headstones were native stones with no inscription on them

Landon Harness, last resident to be buried in Dunlap Black Cemetery

On a road that is seldom traveled I came across this monument.  A beautiful tribute to a freedman who homestead this land.  Here is a link about Mr. Davis and his monument to his family.

http://www.robinvanauken.com/a-monument-to-exodusters/

Massive native stone cornerpost

The ground is so rocky that they drilled holes in the rocks to set the posts.