Editing Dunlap, Tennessee (section)

==History==

Dunlap was founded in 1858 as a county seat for Sequatchie County, which had been created the previous year. The city was named for state legislator [[William Claiborne Dunlap]], who played a prominent role in the county's creation. The city's initial {{convert|40|acre|ha|abbr=off}}, which were deeded to the county commissioners by Willam Rankin, were chosen due to their central location within the new county. Dunlap was incorporated as a city in 1941.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090702022454/http://www.sequatchie.com/history.htm Sequatchie County &mdash; History]. Sequatchie County & Dunlap Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved: December 2, 2008. Accessed at the Internet Archive, June 20, 2016.</ref>

Around 1900, the Douglas Coal and Coke Company purchased {{convert|14000|acre|ha|abbr=off}} of land in the Dunlap vicinity with plans to mine coal and convert the coal into industrial [[coke (fuel)|coke]]. Coke, which is created by heating coal and removing its volatile matter, is used primarily as a [[deoxidizer|deoxidizing agent]] in the production of [[pig iron]]. To convert coal mined on nearby Fredonia Mountain into coke, Douglas built the first of 268 ovens. The company used an incline railway to move the coal from the mountain to the ovens. Although Douglas went bankrupt in 1904, the Chattanooga Iron and Coal Company purchased the ovens, and continued producing coke until 1927.<ref>Carolyn Sakowski, ''Touring the East Tennessee Backroads'' (Winston-Salem, N.C.: J.F. Blair, 1993), 341-344.</ref>  In the 1980s and 1990s, the Sequatchie Valley Historical Association acquired the ruins of the coke ovens and established [[Dunlap Coke Ovens|Dunlap Coke Ovens Park]].<ref>[http://www.cokeovens.com/indexm.htm Coke Ovens Museum &mdash; History]. Retrieved: December 2, 2008.</ref>