Dunlap

Dunlap, on U.S. Highway 83 eight miles north of Paducah in north central Cottle County, was settled in 1906, when OX Ranch owners Sam White and Doss Swearingen sold portions of the ranch to J. M. Abbott and W. B. Dunlap. In 1908 the community gained a post office, which operated until 1970. A cotton gin was also at Dunlap for some years. The community's population was reported as 100 in 1915 and as 113 in 1940 but declined to thirty by 1980. A school operated in Dunlap from 1908 until 1936, when local students were sent to Paducah. In the 1970s most Dunlap residents worshipped at the First Methodist Church or the Church of Christ. The community's population was still thirty in 1990, but had dropped to ten by 2000.