Founding year: the first Douglass post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1869.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Douglass’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Douglass is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Douglass’ overall grade.
Kansas towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Kansas town has 5.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Douglass’ 6.2 sits near the middle of its state (51% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1869 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Douglass’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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 while apprehending a suspected chicken thief. Douglass was incorporated as a city of the third class in 1879.
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 and Arkansas City.
Passages that mention Douglass, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Butler County Kansas1916 · page 373Read the page →
Read the text
left the old home in A\"illiamson, Wayne county. Xew York, where we were born and reared, to join my brother. Joseph, in Southern Butler county, Kansas, on the Walnut river, where he had settled in 1868 and started the town of Douglass. We were unloaded at Kansas City on a platform depot, transferred to the A. T. & S. F. R. R., which was then building westward, and were landed at Burlingame. its terminus at that time. In our company was young Alfred Pratt and his girl wife, all going west to find the gold at the end of the rainbow.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Butler County Kansas1916 · page 494Read the page →
Read the text
Union School. Later he took additional work in various educational institutions and, in fact, has been a hard student all his life. At the age of eighteen, he began his career at a teacher at Williamson, N. Y., and in 1883 came to Kansas, locating at Douglass, Butler county. He taught school in that vicinity for three years, and for seven vears was a teacher in the grammar school at Douglass, and for three years following, he was principal of the Douglass schools. He was then forced to give up teaching on account of his health and after a vacation of three years, he ac-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Douglass, 1868 to 1948
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Douglass’ history
What year was Douglass founded?
The Douglass post office opened in 1868, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1869.
How does Douglass rank for history?
Douglass is more historic than 58% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Douglass?
One place: the Douglass Township Community Building (listed 1995).
How old are the homes in Douglass?
23% of Douglass’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1965.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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