Douglas County, Illinois

Douglas County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Tuscola
Year Organized: 1859
Square Miles: 417

Court House:

P.O. Box 467
Tuscola, IL 61953-0467

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Stephen A. Douglas, US Senator (1847-61); debated Abraham Lincoln on slavery and ran against him for President in 1860.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Douglas County was created on February 8 and February 16, 1859 (Laws, 1859, pp. 24, 28) and was formed from Coles County. Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in: Coles County (1831–1859), Edgar County (1823–1831), Clark County (1819–1823), Crawford County (1816–1819), Edwards County (1815–1816), Madison County (1812–1815), St. Clair County (1801–1812) and Knox, Northwest Territory (1790–1801).

The County was named for Stephen A. Douglas, an eminent lawyer, brilliant political orator, Secretary of State (1840), Representative to Congress (1843–1847), United States Senator (1847–1861), and candidate for the Presidency in 1860. The County Seat is Tuscola . Prior County Seats was Camargo—Temporary designation (1859–1860) and Tuscola (1860–Present).

"Douglas County, lying a little east of the center of the State, embracing an area of 410 square miles and having a population (in 1900) of 19,097. The earliest land entry was made by Harrison Gill, of Kentucky, whose patent was signed by Andrew Jackson. Another early settler was John A. Richman, a West Virginian, who erected one of the first frame houses in the county in 1829. The Embarras and Kaskaskia Rivers flow through the county, which is also crossed by the Wabash and Illinois Central Railways. Douglas County was organized in 1857 (being set off from Coles) and named in honor of Stephen A. Douglas, then United States Senator from Illinois. After a sharp struggle Tuscola was made the county-seat. It has been visited by several disastrous conflagrations, but is a thriving town, credited in 1890, with a population of 1,897. Other important towns are Arcola (population, 1.733), and Camargo, which was originally known as New Salem. " ["Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois", 1901]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 417 square miles (1,081 km²), of which 417 square miles (1,080 km²) is land and 1 square mile (1 km²) (0.13%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Champaign County
Northeast: Vermilion County
East: Edgar County
South: Coles County
Southwest: Moultrie County
Northwest: Piatt County

Cities and Towns:

- Arcola	city	Incorporated Area
- Arthur	village	Incorporated Area
- Atwood	village	Incorporated Area
- Bourbon	township
- Bowdre	township
- Camargo	village	Incorporated Area
- Garrett	village	Incorporated Area
- Hindsboro	village	Incorporated Area
- Murdock	township
- Newman	city	Incorporated Area
- Sargent	township
- Tuscola (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Villa Grove	city	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."