Dunavant, Kansas


Dunavant is an unincorporated community in Jefferson County, Kansas, United States.

History

A post office was opened in Dunavant in 1888, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1932.
In 1910, Dunavant's population was 85 people. In 1912, Dunavant had a money order Post Office and a telegraph office, and was on a branch of the Missouri Pacific Railroad.

Battle of Hickory Point

In 1856, James H. Lane, leader of a small band of Free-State men, besieged a group of Proslavery men in the log buildings near Dunavant at Hickory Point. The Proslavery men had attacked Valley Falls. Lane sent to Lawrence for artillery to drive the men out. Reinforcements led by Col. James A. Harvey arrived the next day, and the skirmish ended with 4 Proslavery men wounded, 1 killed, and 5 Free-State men injured. A Kansas Historical Marker for the Battle of Hickory Point stands a half mile away, on today's U.S. Route 59.
Also nearby, just 1/4 mi. from the Battle of Hickory Point marker, is the farm on which painter John Steuart Curry was born. Later in life, John Steuart Curry would become known for his painting of abolitionist John Brown at the Kansas State Capitol, and also for his painting Law vs. Mob Rule at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, in which a judge in black robes protects a man from a lynch mob.

Geography

Dunavant is located at. Its elevation is.

Notable people