Douglas County, Nevada: History and Information

Douglas County, Nevada

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

County Seat: Minden
Year Organized: 1861
Square Miles: 710

Court House:

P.O. Box 218
County Courthouse
Minden, NV 89423-0218

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named for Stephen Arnold Douglas (April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861; son of Stephen Arnold Douglas and Sarah Fisk) was an American politician from the western state of Illinois, and was the Democratic Party nominee for President in 1860. He lost to the Republican Party's candidate, Abraham Lincoln, whom he had defeated two years earlier in a Senate contest following a famed series of debates. He was nicknamed the "Little Giant" because he was short but was considered by many a "giant" in politics. Douglas was well-known as a resourceful party leader, and an adroit, ready, skillful tactician in debate and passage of legislation.

Demographics:

History

November 25, 1861 - named for Stephen Arnold Douglas, a nationally known political figure and opponent of Abraham Lincoln. Seat: Minden. H.F. Dangberg, Sr. settled in Carson Valley in 1857. He was born in the village of Halle near the Prussian town of Minden, Westphalia, hence the town name.

Geography

Douglas County is in western Nevada in the western United States. Stretching from Carson Valley and running up into the Sierra Nevada, the county is bordered on the west by California, and contains half of Lake Tahoe, which is split across the two states. Carson City, the state capital, lies to the north, and Lyon County to the east.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 738 square miles (1,910 km²), of which, 710 square miles (1,838 km²) of it is land and 28 square miles (72 km²) of it (3.77%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Carson City, Nevada - north

Lyon County, Nevada - east

Mono County, California - southeast

Alpine County, California - south

El Dorado County, California - west

Placer County, California - northwest

Cities and Towns:

- Carson City

city

Incorporated Area

- Minden (County Seat)

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

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."

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