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History · Dunbar

Dunbar’s post office opened in 1922, and 87% of its homes were built before 1940

1922first post office
0on the National Register
87%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Dunbar began

When was Dunbar founded?

1922

The Dunbar post office opened in 1922, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 79104 years
Founding year: the first Dunbar post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Dunbar’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Dunbar are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Dunbar’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Dunbar’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Dunbar’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Dunbar, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Dunbar yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Dunbar is an unincorporated community, census-designated place and coal town located in Wise County, Virginia, United States. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 United States census with a population of 79.

Its first post office opened in 1922.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Dunbar had its own post office from 1922 to 1961.

Dunbar
1922–1961
19201970today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Dunbar’s history

What year was Dunbar founded?

The Dunbar post office opened in 1922, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.