Dunlap, Kansas, identified as a stereotypical dying small town in a 1962 study, was restudied in 1974-75 in an effort to test the dying small town hypothesis (supported only by aggregate census data and casual observation rather than by specific studies). Researchers using unobtrusive observation of Dunlap and seven nearby unincorporated villages, documentary research, and a formal interview of one third of Dunlap's 102 residents, found the dying small town stereotype to be misleading. It was determined the marketplace had shifted, part going to larger trade centers and the remainder changed to an expanded household economy; yet, complex community activities and social subgroupings continued to provide Dunlap with cohesiveness. In and around Dunlap both labor-intensive and capital-intensive types of production were evident and residents had positive expectations for the future. It was suggested that the fate of such towns lies in the decisions of state and federal public policy making bodies on such issues as discontinuing rural Post Offices, elementary school attendance centers, and flood control projects, all of which would directly affect Dunlap and that these small towns can and should organize to consider cooperative programs, mobile health care, etc., if they wish to conserve an alternative form of American social life. (SB)