Douglas, Georgia
Douglas is a city in Coffee County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 11,722. Douglas is the county seat of Coffee County[4] and the core city of the Douglas micropolitan statistical area, which had a population of 50,731 as of the 2010 census.[5]
Not to be confused with Douglas County, Georgia.History[edit]
Douglas was founded in 1855 as the seat of the newly formed Coffee County.[6] It was named for Senator Stephen A. Douglas from Illinois, a renowned stump speaker who was the challenger to Abraham Lincoln in the presidential election of 1860.[7]
Douglas was chartered as a town in 1895 and as a city in 1897. In 1895, the railroad came to Douglas and the community began to boom.[8] In 1909, the Georgia and Florida Railway located its offices in Douglas.
The Eleventh District Agricultural & Mechanical School was established in Douglas in 1906. In 1927, South Georgia College was founded as Georgia's first state-supported junior college.
During the 1920s and 1930s, Douglas was one of the major tobacco markets in the state. Much of this history is depicted in the Heritage Station Museum, located in the former Georgia and Florida Railway train station on Ward Street in downtown Douglas.
Douglas has two areas listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the downtown and Gaskin Avenue historic districts. They were added to the list in 1989.[9]
Education[edit]
Coffee County School District[edit]
The Douglas-Coffee County area is served by the Coffee County Board of Education. The Coffee County School District holds pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of eight elementary schools, a middle school, three high schools, and an alternative education center.[22] The district has 438 full-time teachers and over 8,000 students.[23]