DUNLAY, TEXAS. Dunlay, originally called Enterprise and also referred to as Enterprise Station, Interprise, Murray, Baldwin, Harper, and Summit, is on the Southern Pacific Railroad and Highway 90, six miles west of Castroville in Medina County. Enterprise developed on the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway around 1881 during a time of rapid rail expansion west through Medina County. A post office was established there in 1890 with Norval Seymour Murray as postmaster. The community had a population of forty, a general store, a corn mill and gin, and a saloon by 1892. After May 10, 1895, the post office and town were called Dunlay, for Jerry Dunlay, a train conductor. A railroad spur line was laid from Dunlay to the Medina Dam construction site in 1911, and most materials for the dam project passed through Dunlay on this line. By 1914 Dunlay had 100 residents, a lumberyard, a general store, and a cotton gin. The community reported a population of 150 and six businesses by 1965. Its post office closed in 1974. In 1990 Dunlay reported a population of 119 and one business. The population remained the same in 2000 with nine businesses.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Castro Colonies Heritage Association, The History of Medina County, Texas (Dallas: National Share Graphics, 1983). John J. Germann and Myron Janzen, Texas Post Offices by County (1986).

Ruben E. Ochoa