Douglas County, Kansas

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

County Seat: Lawrence
Year Organized: 1855
Square Miles: 461

Court House:

1100 Massachusetts Street, Suite 200
County Courthouse
Lawrence, KS 66044-3064

Named: In honor of Stephen A. Douglas, United States Senator from Illinois, and candidate for the presidency in 1860. As a Senator, Douglas, in 1854, took a leading part in securing the adoption of the "popular sovereignty" principle in the Act organizing Kansas Territory, which gave the particular form of the issue involved in the Kansas struggle.

State & County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Douglas county, located in Northeastern Kansas west of the Kansas City metropolitan area, is home to major Kansas universities including the University of Kansas.

Douglas County, located in the second tier of counties west of Missouri and in the fourth tier south of Nebraska, is bounded on the north by Jefferson and Leavenworth counties, from which it is separated by the Kansas river; on the east by Johnson county; on the south by Franklin county, and on the west by Osage and Shawnee counties. It is one of the original 33 counties created by the first territorial legislature with the following boundaries: "Beginning at the main channel of the Kansas river, at the northwest corner of Johnson county; thence south to the southwest corner of Johnson county; thence west 24 miles to a point equidistant between the limits (embraced in the original plots) of the towns of Lecompton and Tecumseh."

It was named in honor of Stephen A. Douglas, United States senator from Douglas at the time of the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill.

Geography

It has an area of 469 square miles. he general surface of the country is undulating, breaking into high bluffs along the Kansas and Wakarusa rivers. The bottom lands or valleys, which comprise about a quarter of the area, are from 2 to 4 miles in width. Timber belts are generally found along the streams, and average about a mile in width. The principal varieties of native timber are ash, elm, cottonwood, oak, walnut and hackberry. The main water course is the Kansas river, which flows in a general southeasterly direction and forms the northern boundary. The Wakarusa river, also an important stream, flows nearly across the county from the west and empties into the Kansas river. The main tributaries of the Wakarusa are Deer, Rock, Washington and Coal creeks, while Plumb creek flows across the extreme northeast corner. In the south are Eight Mile and Ottawa creeks, and along the eastern boundary Captain's creek. Springs are abundant and good well water is usually found at a depth of 25 feet. The soil is extremely fertile, and all grains grow well. The principal crops are winter wheat, Kafir-corn and hay, but the county ranks high in the production of Irish potatoes. Limestone is extensively quarried in Wakarusa and Lecompton townships. Potter's clay is found along the Kansas river, and coal has been mined in limited quantities south of Lawrence.

Higher Education

University of Kansas

Neighboring Counties:

North: Jefferson County
Northeast: Leavenworth County
East: Johnson County
Southeast: Miami County
South: Franklin County
Southwest: Osage County
Northwest: Shawnee County

Cities:

- Baldwin City	city	Incorporated Area
- Clinton	township
- Eudora	city	Incorporated Area
- Grant	township
- Kanwaka	township
- Lawrence (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Lecompton	city	Incorporated Area
- Palmyra	township
- Willow Springs	township

County Resources:

Douglas County - KS-Cyclopedia - 1912

County Resource Guide

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we’ve given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the “characteristic features of our 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.”

Penn Foster High School

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