Douglas County, Kansas


Douglas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat and most populous city is Lawrence. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 118,785, making it the fifth-most populous county in Kansas. The county was named after Stephen Douglas, a U.S. Senator from Illinois and advocate for the popular sovereignty choice in the Kansas slavery debate.
Douglas County comprises the Lawrence, KS Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS Combined Statistical Area.
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History

Early history

For millennia, the Great Plains of North America was inhabited by nomadic Native Americans. From the 16th century to 18th century, the Kingdom of France claimed ownership of large parts of North America. In 1762, after the French and Indian War, France secretly ceded New France to Spain, per the Treaty of Fontainebleau. In 1802, Spain returned most of the land to France via the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso, although the former country kept title to about 7,500 square miles. In 1803, most of the land for modern day Kansas was acquired by the United States from France as part of the 828,000 square mile Louisiana Purchase for 2.83 cents per acre.

19th century

In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. In 1855, Douglas County was established. Douglas County was opened for settlement on May 15, 1854, and was named for Stephen A. Douglas, a senator from Illinois. The county was practically at the center of the Bleeding Kansas years as leaders in Lecompton wanted Kansas to be a slave state, whereas leaders in Lawrence wanted Kansas to be a free state. The pro- and anti-slavery settlers held great animosity towards one another, leading to many events, such as the drafting of the Lecompton Constitution, the Wakarusa War, the Sack of Lawrence, Black Jack">Black American">Black Jack, and the Lawrence Massacre.
The first railroad in Douglas County, the Kansas Pacific, was built through that territory in 1864.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water. It is the fifth-smallest county in Kansas by land area. Much of its northern boundary is defined by the Kansas River, which flows through Lawrence and provides hydropower at the Bowersock Dam.

Lakes

Adjacent counties

Demographics

Douglas County comprises the Lawrence, KS Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS Combined Statistical Area.

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 118,785, a median age of 32.2 years, 18.9% of residents under the age of 18, 13.8% aged 65 and over, 97.6 males for every 100 females overall, 95.6 males for every 100 females age 18 and over, with 85.4% of residents living in urban areas and 14.6% in rural areas.
The racial makeup of the county was 78.0% White, 4.5% Black or African American, 2.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 3.9% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 2.2% from some other race, and 8.8% from two or more races, while Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino] residents of any race comprised 7.0% of the population.
There were 48,553 households in the county, of which 25.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 28.7% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present; 33.1% of households were made up of individuals and 9.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 52,846 housing units, of which 8.1% were vacant, with occupied units evenly split between owner-occupancy and rentals, and vacancy rates of 1.6% for homeowners and 7.4% for rentals.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 99,962 people, 38,486 households, and 21,167 families residing in the county. The population density was. There were 40,250 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 86.1% White, 4.2% Black or African American, 2.6% Native American, 3.1% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 1.2% from other races, and 2.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.3% of the population.
There were 38,486 households, out of which 27.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.1% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.0% were non-families. 28.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.97.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 20.4% under the age of 18, 26.4% from 18 to 24, 28.3% from 25 to 44, 16.9% from 45 to 64, and 7.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27 years. For every 100 females there were 98.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.70 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $37,547, and the median income for a family was $53,991. Males had a median income of $35,577 versus $27,225 for females. The per capita income for the county was $19,952. About 6.2% of families and 15.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.0% of those under age 18 and 7.3% of those age 65 or over.

Government

County

In recent years, since the 1990s, the Democratic Party has been dominant in Douglas County. Democrats control all County-wide offices in the county. Douglas County is currently served by county commissioners Patrick Kelly, Shannon Reid, Karen Willey, Gene Dorsey, and Erica Anderson, all Democrats. According to the Kansas Secretary of State's office, as of July 2021, there were 35,146 registered Democrats, 22,324 registered Republicans, 900 registered Libertarians, and 21,474 Independents in the county.

State

Democratic state representatives representing portions of the county include Eileen Horn, Barbara Ballard, Mike Amyx, and Dennis Highberger ; Republican state representatives include Jim Karleskint, and Ken Corbet. The three state senators representing the county, Marci Francisco, Tom Holland, and Anthony Hensley, are all Democrats.

Presidential elections

Douglas County has a political history more typical of Vermont and Maine than of the Great Plains. This is due to the county's strong New England roots. It voted for the Republican candidate in every presidential election between 1864 and 1960, except in 1912 when the GOP was mortally divided and the county supported Progressive Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt would later rejoin the GOP. The county reverted to form and gave Republican presidential nominees over 60 percent of the vote in every election between 1920 and 1960. Notably, it was one of the few counties where Franklin D. Roosevelt was shut out in all four of his successful campaigns for president; in FDR's national landslide of 1936, Douglas was his weakest county and the second-best for Republican nominee and Kansas Governor Alf Landon.
This tradition was broken in 1964, when the conservative sentiment and Western origins of Barry Goldwater drove the county into Lyndon B. Johnson's hands, making Johnson the first Democrat ever to carry the county. Even then, however, Goldwater managed 45 percent of the county's vote. With more moderate GOP candidates, the GOP carried the county in every election between 1968 and 1988. During this time, Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Michael Dukakis in 1988 were the only Democrats to come reasonably close to carrying the county.
However, the growing transformation of Lawrence into a liberal academic center has pulled the county into the Democratic column in every election since 1992. This was typical of many counties around the country dominated by college towns. In 2004, John Kerry became only the second Democrat to win a majority of the county's vote. Since then, Douglas County has been one of the most Democratic counties in Kansas; only Wyandotte County has been more Democratic. In 2016, 2020, and 2024, for instance, Donald Trump turned in the worst showings on record for a Republican in the county without the presence of a credible third-party challenger on the ballot.

Laws

The county overwhelmingly voted "No" on the 2022 Kansas abortion referendum, an anti-abortion ballot measure, by 81% to 19%, outpacing its support of Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election.

Law enforcement

The Douglas County Sheriff's office has two divisions, Corrections, which operates a 185-bed jail, and Operations. The Operations Division includes a dive team, a patrol, and a warrants unit. The department works with other local police agencies at the University of Kansas, Lawrence Police Department, Eudora, and Baldwin City. the sheriff is Jay T. Armbrister.

Education

Universities

Unified school districts

Douglas County is served by seven school districts.
;School district office in neighboring county

Parks

, completed in 1980, offers boating, fishing and other water sports and various parks surrounding the lake provides camping and trails for mountain biking, hiking and horseback riding.
Lone Star Lake is a small country lake to the southwest of Lawrence offers fishing, boating and camping. Just northeast of Baldwin City is Douglas State Fishing Lake which provides hunting, fishing and limited camping. Other parks around the county include Black Jack Park which includes the Ivan Boyd Prairie Preserve and Robert Hall Pearson Memorial Park, Broken Arrow Park in Lawrence and Wells Overlook Park just south of Lawrence.

Events

Major events in the county include the Maple Leaf Festival in Baldwin City every third full weekend in October. Lecompton's Territorial Days take place every year in June and Lawrence has many parades throughout the year including Christmas and St. Patrick's Day.

Transportation

Major highways

  • , runs east to west just north of Lawrence.
  • runs north to south through the middle of the county and the middle of Lawrence.
  • virtually follows the Oregon Trail heading west out of Lawrence.
  • runs east to west in the southern half of the county, going through Baldwin City and skirts the Santa Fe Trail.
  • runs from the I-70 Lecompton Exchange along the south and west border of Lawrence to US-59 then north until 23rd Street where it heads east out of town into Johnson County.
Other major highways include:

County Highways

Douglas County also maintains an extensive network of county highways to serve the rural areas of the county. None of these county highways is in the Lawrence city limits.

Communities

List of townships / incorporated cities / unincorporated communities / extinct former communities within Douglas County.

Cities

Unincorporated communities

Ghost towns

Townships

Douglas County is divided into nine townships. The city of Lawrence is considered governmentally independent and is excluded from the census figures for the townships. In the following table, the population center is the largest city of significant size included in that township's population total.
[Image:Douglas County 1889.gif|thumb|Map of Douglas County, 1889, from History of Kansas.]

Historic townships

The county originally had only four townships. Lecompton comprised the area of Lecompton, Kanwaka, and Clinton townships; Washington took the place of Marion and Willow Springs townships; Wakarusa comprised both Wakarusa and Eudora townships; and Calhoun was the original name of Palmyra township. Grant township was annexed from Jefferson County in 1874.

Notable people