The Kansas City, Wyondotte and Northwestern Railroad was mainly built in 1887. The route was from Kansas City, northwest to Virginia, Nebraska, passing through all the small towns between those two cities that was feasible to do so. Quite a lot of small town sites were layed out along this new railroad, Dunavant being one of them. The town was located between Oskaloosa and Valley Falls (about four miles north and 2 miles west of Oskaloosa). The man who plattted and layed out the town of Dunavant was a man by that name, Colonel W. P. Dunavant. He was president of the Northwest Construction Company and the railroad (Kansas City, Wyandotte & Northwestern). The railroad was discontinued soon after World War I. The post office at Dunavant was opened on June 7, 1888, and closed on Sept 30, 1932. The first postmaster was George W. Elson.
