Douglass is a city in Butler County, Kansas, United
States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,555.
The first settlement was made at Douglass in 1869. Douglass is named
for its founder, Joseph W. Douglass, a storeowner who was fatally shot
at the town site in 1873(1) while apprehending a suspected chicken thief.
Douglass was incorporated as a city of the third class in 1879.
Douglass city was established after the Civil War, by Joseph Douglass.
In 1869 Douglass, having realized the potential for a community along an
old cattle trail from Texas, acquired land for farming.
Douglass
discovered, however, that he wasn’t much of a farmer, so he applied to
have his land turned into a town site instead. The town was laid out in
blocks and streets on a square grid, much like his home back in New
York. Land was given to the Methodist church, as well as influential
people who were to attract settlers to the area.
Joseph Douglass
took an active interest in his town but would unfortunately meet an
untimely death at the hands of a miscreant he'd taken into custody. The
town, now well established, would continue to prosper without its
founder, welcoming business establishments, grain mills, saw mills,
hotels, general stores, blacksmiths, livery stables, physicians, drug
stores and yes…they had their share of horse thieves too.
Civilization and progress continued to sweep through Douglass, bringing
with them a subscription school and Sunday school, later followed by a
newspaper and banks. Levi Wright established a prosperous hardware store
and the town's first opera house, drawing entertainment from the east
and providing a stage for local plays and pageants.
The influence
of pioneers like Levi Wright and Joseph Douglass, remains an important
part of the city's heritage today. Some of the town’s original buildings
are still in use, while others have been replaced to make way for our
community center (listed on the National Historic Register) and library.
In 1877, the Florence, El Dorado, and Walnut Valley Railroad Company
built a branch line from Florence to El Dorado, in 1881 it was extended
to Douglass, and later to Arkansas City. The line was leased and
operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The line from
Florence to El Dorado was abandoned in 1942. The original branch line
connected Florence, Burns, De Graff, El Dorado, Augusta, Douglass, Rock,
Akron, Winfield, Arkansas City.
In 2010, the Keystone-Cushing
Pipeline (Phase II) was constructed about 1.8 miles west of Douglass,
north to south through Butler County.
Not to be confused
with Douglas County, Kansas
Notes:
1.
The 1873 date is taken from the town's museum website, but the memorial
shows Joseph Whiting Douglass died in 1871. He was the son Stephen
Paddock (?or Patrick) William Douglass (1804–1872) and Ursula Adelaide
Shaff (1814–1899
2. Stephen Paddock William Douglass;
born:
20 Jun 1804, Pittstown, Rensselaer County, New York, USA
died: 19 Sep
1872 (aged 68), Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA
Buried:
Pleasant View Cemetery, Williamson, Wayne County, New York, USA
A
deed record (his wife's family land transaction) stated he was an
instructor of penmanship.
Stephen is the son of William S.
Douglass, born 1781, died Ontario Canada 5 Feb 1808, no burial
site found. (He is believed to have been murdered on a boat to Canada
for business.) William's parents, and Stephen P W's grandparents, are:
Maj Samuel Douglass and Patience Ferguson Douglass. Maj Samuel
married as his second wife, Priscilla Wood Douglass.).
3.
DNA test shows that Maj Sam is descended from William Douglass (b. 1610)
of New London, CT who arrived in America (MA) in 1630.
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