This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Only Handful of Douglas County Settlements Survive
A historical look at Douglas County's vanished towns from 1857 to the late 19th century. The piece recalls paper towns like Douglas Benicia Marshall Sebastian Prairie City and Louisiana, the rise of Lawrence and Lecompton, and the impact of railroads, post offices, and battles such as Black Jack on the county’s shifting population. It notes missing sites, border disputes, and the enduring legacy of early settlements now reduced to memory.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Nora Gleland
Douglas County
Baldwin
Eudora
Kansas Prairie
State Historical Society
Topeka
Kansas
University of Kansas Library
Alexander
Kegerville
McKinney
Nevada
Thentic
Lecompton
Lecompton City
Douglas
Benicia
Marshall
Washington Township
Bloomington
Willow Springs
Washington
Wakarusa Township
Lawrence
Franklin
Sebastian
Calhoun Township
Palmyra
Pacific City
Louisiana
Prairie City
Ben-icila
Stuck
Kaw
Paris Ellison
Ellison
Kansas Territory
John W. Reid
George W. Clark
Charles Kearney
Edward McCarty
M. W. McGee
Perry
Delaware ‘River
Pate
Black Jack
Brooklyn
Salem
Oscar Williams
Daniel Jones
John M. Banks
F. M. Coleman
Joseph Fager
Thomas Emery
Quantrill
Missouri
Nee County
H. Woodson
W. Christman
T. N. Stinson
J. C. Anderson
A. Cummings
Calcutta
Mt. Hope
California
Dream Cities
Wakarusa
Mdern
Sibley
Vinland
Lecompton Township
Thomas H. Doyle
George Brown
Jerome Kunkle
H. Doyle
R. M. Nace
Charles A. Faris
William McDonald
G. H. Brown
C. N. Michie
S. R. Hieronymous
P. L. Doane
A. Briswalder
J. Gilchrist
R. Lester
Butell
Kansas River
William H.R. Lykins
Achille B. Wade
Samuel T. Snyder
John P. Wood
Joel Grover
William H. Lykins
George W. Hutchinson
North Lawrence
John Baldwin
Territorial Capitol
Dougal Jefferson
G. J. Tallman
Las
G.N. Simpson
Neosho
Osage
Ottawa
Reeton
H. Burnan
N. Romney
William Jesse
P. P. Fowler
James M. Dann