HISTORY
The area now known as Douglas County was opened for settlement shortly after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in May 1854 although there were several squatters here before then. The first permanent settlement in the county was the small town of Big Springs situated along the Oregon Trail, and now lining both sides of U.S. Highway 40 near the Shawnee County border. In the Fall of 1854, the town of Bald Eagle was founded on the bluffs of the Kansas River, the name was soon changed to Lecompton and the town become the Territorial Capital of Kansas, known as the “Wall Street of the West.”
Lawrence was founded around the same time and became the Free State stronghold while Lecompton advocated slavery and the South. Lawrence was burned down twice. Once in 1856 by Douglas County Sheriff Samuel Jones and again in 1863 by William Quantrill. In 1857, Lawrence became the county seat and when Kansas was admitted as a state on January 29, 1861, Topeka, a Free State city in Shawnee County, was chosen as the Capital thus ending Lecompton’s growth and making Kansas a Free State.
In 1858, the first four year university in Kansas was started just south of Palmyra. The university, Baker, became the centerpiece of a new town named Baldwin City, after major university benefactor John Baldwin. Palmyra was soon absorbed into Baldwin City and the town continues to grow. In 1857, Pascal Fish, a Shawnee Indian who owned a massive piece of land, sold it to a German emigrant group who started a town and named it Eudora after Fish’s daughter.
In 1865, the University of Kansas was founded in Lawrence on top of Mount Oread, once a lookout along the Oregon Trail. In 1884, Haskell Indian Nations University was founded as the United States Indian Industrial Training School where boys learned specific trades including wagon making, blacksmithing and farming while girls learned to cook and clean. In 1887, it was renamed Haskell Institute after Dudley Haskell. In 1965, Haskell graduated its last high school class and in 1970 began offering junior college courses, renaming itself Haskell Indian Junior College until 1993 when it changed to its current name.
Today, Douglas County has a population of 110,826 with 87,643 being in Lawrence; 6,136 in Eudora; 4,515 in Baldwin City and 625 in Lecompton with the rest spread out over the county’s nine townships.
TOWNS & SETTLEMENTS
Names are linked if there is an article about that settlement. Dates in parenthesis denote the lifespan of the post office if there was one.
Aladdin (1875-1881), also Alladin
Alexander
Alfred (1875-78; 1882-1902), located at North 650 & East 550 Roads
Appanoose (1857-60; 1870-1902), post office first established in Franklin County before being moved to Douglas County
Auburndale, also Orbondale
Baden (1883-86; 1888-91), located along Santa Fe Trail, location marked by a historical marker; also Flag Springs
Baldwin City (1862-present)
Barbers Station, located in the vicinity of the Barber School north of Clinton Lake
Belevue
Belmont, neighborhood in East Lawrence between Maple Lane & Elmwood Street and 13th Street/Oak Hill Avenue & East 15th Street.
Belvoir (1869-1903), originally located near the intersection of County Roads 1023 & 6 but moved in 1873 to the end of present day North 1250 Road three miles north
Benicia, located at the railroad tracks at North 2050 & East 800 Roads
Big Springs (1856-1903), located along Highway 40 between East 50 & 150 Roads
Bismarck Grove, located near the intersection of Lyon & North 9th Streets in North Lawrence
Black Jack (1858-95), also Black Jack Point, located three miles east of Baldwin City
Blackfaw, also Blackfau, also in Shawnee County, started by Tecumseh and other Shawnee County residents under the Blackfaw Town Company; located about at 53rd & Woodring Rd.
Blanton (1855-56), located along Wakarusa River near East 1400 Road
Bloomington (1855-58), located three miles east of Clinton, demolished for construction of Clinton Lake
Blue Jacket’s Crossing, located along Wakarusa River near County Road 1057
Blue Mound, located near Blue Mound in Eudora Township
Brooklyn, also Brooklin and Brookline; located near North 550 & East 1400 Roads
Calcutta (1875-81)
Camp Sackett, located three and half miles southwest of Lecompton
Chandler
Chester
Clearfield (1885-1900), located six miles south of Eudora
Collinwood Farm, located on the border between Marion and Willow Springs Township; see also Aladdin
Coon Point, located about five miles south of Lecompton
Douglas (1855), also Douglas City; located about three miles east of Lecompton along Kansas River
Echo (1874-75; 1878-94; 1894-1900), located at North 500 & East 800 Roads
Eudora (1857-present)
Elysian Plains, name of John Wakefield farm
Fall Leaf
Franklin (1855-1867), located near present-day East 27th Street & Franklin Road
Gideon (1883-1902), located at roughly North 1100 & East 1000 Roads, where Wakarusa Valley Elementary School is now
Glasgow City (1875), also in Osage and Shawnee counties
Glen Burn (1856-1857), name of Hugh Cameron farm
Glendale (1881-94), located near North 2190 & East 200 Roads
Globe (1858-67; 1870-1900), originally called Marion; located along present day Highway 56 at East 500 Road
Grover (1886-95; 1897-99), located at North 2190 & East 150 Roads
Hesper (1868-1900), located five miles southeast of Eudora
Hillsan, located along Lawrence, Leavenworth & Galveston Railroad about three miles northwest of Baldwin City
Hole in the Rock, located a quarter mile west of Highways 56 & 59
Holling (1869-1900), located at North 550 & East 1400 Roads in the vicinity of Brooklyn
India
Jefferson (1865-72), also Jefferson City; now North Lawrence
Kanwaka (1857-70; 1898-1900), located at North 1600 & Highway 40
Kennedy Valley, named for the abundance of Kennedys along the southern bank of the Wakarusa River between East 1200 and East 1500 Roads
Kezerville (1856)
Lake View (1898-1914), also Horseshoe Lake; located five miles northwest of Lawrence along County Road 7
Lane (1855-56)
Lapeer (1873-1902), located near North 450 & East 300 Roads
Lawrence (1855-present), also Wakarusa, Yankee Town, Worchester, New Boston, Plymouth
Lecompton (1855-present), originally Bald Eagle
Lone Star (1875-1953), located at East 661 Diagonal & East 800 Roads
Louisiana (1856-57), located near North 450 & East 1550 Roads
Marshall
McKinney (1857-68)
Media (1878-1903), post office moved from Prairie City; annexed to Baldwin City
Midland, located four miles north of Lawrence
Miller’s Spring, also Miller and Millerburg; located near 6th Street & Kasold Drive
Mission Camp
Mount Aeolia, also Aeolia; was Governor Stanton’s house from 1857 until 1862
Mount Hope
Mount Oread, also Hog Back, Hog Back Ridge; located on University of Kansas campus near 11th & Louisiana Streets
Mount Vernon
Neoma
Nevada City (1855-57)
New Haven
Oak Ridge, farm owned by Governor Charles and Sarah Robinson northeast of Lawrence along East 1600 Road
Ottawa
Pacific City, located near Brooklyn
Palmyra (1857-62), annexed to Baldwin City
Pleasant Grove (1879-1900), located along East 1250 Road at North 800 Road
Prairie City (1856-1878), located one mile southwest of Baldwin City
Red Deer
Redemption City, proposed name change for Lecompton
Roscoe, located about two miles south of Eudora on East 2200 Road between North 800 & 900 Roads
Saint Charles
Salem
Scottsville
Sebastian, located on the southside of Wakarusa River along County Road 1057; see also Blue Jacket’s Crossing
Sibley (1884-1934), also Sibleyville; located seven miles south of Lawrence at LL&G Railroad and County Road 458
Sigel (1862-74; 1875-88; 1891-96), located on Clinton Lake land near Sesquicentennial Point
Stanton
Stewart, land claim for Rev. John Stewart; located near North 1175 & East 1600 Roads.
Stony Point, also Hickory Point; located along North 650 Road between East 1500 and 1550 Roads
Stull (1899-1903), originally Deer Creek; located at the intersection North 1600 & East 250 Roads
Tokeska, located between Lake View and Benicia
Twin Mound (1858-1903), located along County Road 460 & East 100 Road
Tyler Place, possibly located near Oak Hill Cemetery
Wakansa
Wakarusa (1857-66)
Wakefield
Walker City
Washington
Washington Creek (1873-82), located North 600 & East 550 Roads
Weaver (1891-1903), located near North 1500 & East 2300 Roads
Wheatland (1856), located on Black Jack Battlefield; possibly early name for Black Jack
Willow Springs (1855-1900), also Akron, Davis and Echo; located near North 550 & East 1100
Roads
Wilson’s Springs
Winchester
Worden (1884-1904), located at Highway 56 & East 900 Roads
Yellow Springs
