County Past
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Douglas County, Illinois

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

18newspaper titles
0digitized titles
3historic places
1800earliest paper
1859formed
19,740pop. 2020
26cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The Library of Congress U.S. Newspaper Directory lists 18 newspaper titles published in Douglas County, Illinois, with the earliest starting in 1800. None of these titles are currently digitized on Chronicling America. The National Register of Historic Places includes 3 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1991. Most listings are in or near Arcola, Villa Grove, Newman.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers published in Douglas

Library of Congress
18 newspaper titles
TitlePlaceYears
The Arcola RecordArcola1800–1999
The IndependentNewman1800–1899
Douglas County ShieldTuscola1860–1899
Douglas County DemocratArcola1870–1899
Douglas County ReviewTuscola1875–1999
The Arthur SignalArthur1885–1999
Arthur GraphicArthur1887–1905
Daily Newman IndependentNewman1891–1999
The IndependentNewman1894–1896
The Hindsboro NewsHindsboro1896–1973
Journal-RepublicanTuscola1900–1903
The Arcola Record-HeraldArcola1900–?
The Arthur ClarionArthur1905–1905
The Arthur Graphic-ClarionArthur1905–?
The Arcola ArcolianArcola1910–1914
The ArcolianArcola1914–1999
The Clarion PressArthur1935–1999
Douglas County CourierTuscola1996–2009

Source: Library of Congress U.S. Newspaper Directory. “Digitized” links lead to page images on Chronicling America.

Coverage timeline

Newspapers

Each bar is one title’s publication span. brown = digitized on Chronicling America Open-ended runs extend to today.

18001856191319692026

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

2 of 3 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

3 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Arcola Carnegie Public LibraryArcolaBuilding2002
Henson HouseVilla GroveBuilding2020
Streibich Blacksmith ShopNewmanBuilding1991

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Douglas was formed in 1859 (1859-03-21) from Coles.

DOUGLAS created from COLES. An earlier attempt on 13 February 1857 to create DOUGLAS, with different boundaries, failed.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Douglas County population from 1860 to 2020 (Census historical series).

20k14k7,1401860188019201940196020002020
1860188019001920194019501960198020002020
7,14015,85319,09719,60417,59016,70619,24319,77419,92219,740

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

26 cemeteries and 1 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 26 of 26 listed
NameLatLon
Albin Cemetery39.77239-88.0163
Antioch - Hugo Cemetery39.75739-88.14457
Arcola Township Cemetery39.67448-88.28921
Bourbon Cemetery39.75114-88.377
Broadus Cemetery39.76819-88.1975
Campbell Cemetery39.68198-88.37227
Fillmore Cemetery39.71761-88.39083
Gill Cemetery39.75305-88.14021
Gwinn Cemetery39.70746-88.0424
Hammett Cemetery39.8217-88.16199
Jordan Cemetery39.86814-88.09455
Lewis Cemetery39.86331-88.3632
Lower Lester Cemetery39.78323-88.36276
Miller Cemetery39.70318-88.41418
Mount Zion Cemetery39.85017-88.29259
Murdock Cemetery39.82076-88.08548
Nelson Cemetery39.87883-88.30668
Oak Ridge Cemetery39.79781-88.16755
Pleasant Grove Cemetery39.73866-88.07356
Pleasant Ridge Cemetery39.86091-87.95304
Taylor Cemetery39.77003-88.46145
Tuscola Township Cemetery39.79311-88.27503
Upper Lester Cemetery39.81442-88.35719
Van Voorhis Cemetery39.71032-88.11625
Yoder Cemetery39.66075-88.44783
Yoder Cemetery39.71051-88.45767
Historical populated places — 1 of 1
NameLatLon
Fillmore39.71337-88.38116

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Douglas County, Illinois

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.