Founding year: the first Dunlap post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Dunlap’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dunlap is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Dunlap’s overall grade.
Ohio towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Ohio town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Dunlap’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±16.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Dunlap’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
A large part of Dunlap was originally owned by William and Asher Williamson. They sold their land in 1849 to a Mr. Parker who platted a number of lots along the Colerain Pike and Hamilton Road. In 1850, Oliver S. Glisson, an officer in the United States Navy, hired attorney Thomas S. Yeatman to lay out a subdivision south of the village on the farm of Glisson's recently deceased father. George Struble built several of the first houses in the village on his farmland east of the pike. The village was originally named Georgetown in his honor.
Passages that mention Dunlap, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Hamilton County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches1881Read the page →
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In the spring of 1803, they purchased a section of land on the Big Miama, at what was then called Dunlap's Station, about sixteen miles from Cincinnati. This station was founded in 1790, by John Dunlap, and was the first settlement in the interior, back from the Ohio river. The Indians gave the settlers so much trouble that General Harrison, at Fort Washington, now Cincinnati, sent for their protection a detachment of soldiers under
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History of Hamilton County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches1881Read the page →
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In the spring of 1803, they purchased a section of land on the Big Miami, at what was then called Dunlap's Station, about sixteen miles from Cincinnati. This station was founded in 1790, by John Dunlap, and was the first settlement in the interior, back from the Ohio river. The Indians gave the settlers so much trouble that General Harrison, at Fort Washinton, now Cincinnati, sent for their protection a detachment of soldiers under
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History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio1894 · page 38Read the page →
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Three new stations were thus established during the month of April, at widely separated points in the lower portion of the extensive county. The most remote of these isolated settlements was established under the leadership of John Dunlap, one of Symmes’ numerous surveyors, upon the eastern bank of the Great Miami, eighteen miles northwest of Cincinnati, in a position almost encircled by a turn in the river.
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History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio1894 · page 381Read the page →
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John Dunlap was the first settler in Colerain township. A native of Coleraine, in the North of Ireland, he possessed the sturdy and aggressive qualities of his race, and when an opportunity was presented to become associated with Judge Symmes’ colonization enterprise he eagerly accepted it. Columbia, Losantiville and North Bend were projected on the river, but, more venturesome than the projectors of either of those places, he formed the design of founding a town and settlement in the interior. The site he selected is a level plat of ground on the east bank of the Great Miami, in the extreme northwestern part of Colerain township. Here he
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
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Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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The Dunlap post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Dunlap rank for history?
Dunlap is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Dunlap?
21% of Dunlap’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±16.5 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1988.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
