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History · Douglas

Douglas’ post office opened in 1903, and 82% of its homes were built before 1940

1903first post office
0on the National Register
82%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Andrew Filer from Seattle (ex-Minneapolis) · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers

How Douglas began

When was Douglas founded?

1903

The Douglas post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1906.

2020 census: 93123 years
Founding year: the first Douglas post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1906.

What stands out about Douglas’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Douglas are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Douglas’ homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Douglas’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Douglas’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Douglas, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Douglas yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Douglas is a city in Ward County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 93 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Minot Micropolitan Statistical Area. Douglas was founded in 1906. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, multiple business buildings on Main Street were demolished. Between 2005 and 2009, the school was razed for an unknown reason. Today, the town is a shell of its former self, with a bar being the only business left in operation.

Its first post office opened in 1903. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 64 to 93 (+45%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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Famous people

Famous people close to Douglas

Nobody well known was born in Douglas itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
E
Edward Arthur SteinhausAmerican insect pathologist · b. 1914
R
Roland J. BarnickUnited States Air Force general · b. 1917

Questions about Douglas’ history

What year was Douglas founded?

The Douglas post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1906.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.