Dudley is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Callahan County Callahan County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 13,708. Its county seat is Baird, Texas, Baird. The county was founded in 1858 and late ...

, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. According to the

Handbook of Texas The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

, the community had a population of 25 in 2000. It is located within the

Abilene metropolitan area The Abilene metropolitan statistical area is a metropolitan statistical area in west-central Texas that covers three counties— Taylor, Jones, and Callahan. As of the 2020 census, the MSA had a population of 176,579. Counties * Callahan * ...

History

Dudley was founded in 1893. It was named for Nicholas M. Dudley, its first postmaster and storekeeper. The post office closed in 1912 due to a lack of growth in the area. The community had three stores and a church serving 35 residents in 1940. The local grocery store also served as a community center where locals played

dominoes Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also called ''Pip (counting), pips ...

croquet Croquet ( or ) is a sport which involves hitting wooden, plastic, or composite balls with a mallet through hoops (often called Wicket, "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court. Variations In all forms of croquet, in ...

, and

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

. The community once had three churches. Its population was listed as 25 from 1980 through 2000.

Geography

Dudley is located on Farm to Market Road 1178 in western Callahan County.

Education

Dudley had its own school in 1940. Today, the community is served by the Eula Independent School District.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Caldwell County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas