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.Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. Standard Pub. Co. Chicago : 1912. 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

The Battle of Hickory Point proceeded on September 13 and 14, 1856. On September 13, 1856, James H. Lane, leader of Free-State men in Kansas, besieged a group of Border Ruffians in the log buildings near Dunavant at Hickory Point (also known as Stony Point), a proslavery settlement on the Ft. Leavenworth-Ft. Riley military road.Legends of Kansas: Stony Point, Kansas Prior, this group of proslavery men led by Capt. H. A. Lowe had attacked Valley Falls, then called Grasshopper Falls. Among this band of the Border Ruffians were around 40 South Carolinians.

With a small force of jayhawkers Lane attacked but was repulsed. Lane then sent to Lawrence for artillery to drive the Border Ruffians out. Reinforcements led by Col. James A. Harvey arrived the next day, on September 14, 1856, and the skirmish ended with four Proslavery men wounded, one killed and five Free-State men injured. Around 100 Free-Staters were detained by U.S. troops afterwards, since the skirmish occurred after a declaration issued by Territorial Governor John W. Geary directing the cessation of all hostilities in the Kansas Territory. The Jayhawkers claimed self-defense and were released.Battle of Hickory Point, Civil War on the Western Border: The Missouri-Kansas Conflict, 1855–1865

A Kansas Historical Marker for the Battle of Hickory Point stands a half mile away, on today's U.S. Route 59.The Historical Marker Database: Battle of Hickory Point

Farm where John Steuart Curry was born

Also nearby, just 1/4 mi. from the Battle of Hickory Point marker, is the farm on which painter John Steuart Curry was born. The farmhouse has been moved to Oskaloosa and there are plans to turn it into a museum.

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 John Steuart Curry (1897–1946), painter

References

Dunavant, Kansas

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