About Douglas
Douglas is a village in south-west Otoe County, in south-east Nebraska. It is a separate place from Douglas County, which lies to the north around Omaha. The village covers about 0.22 square miles and sits at an elevation of 1,250 feet. The 2020 census counted 166 residents. The ZIP code is 68344.
History
Simpson McKibbon settled a homestead here in 1864, and the Missouri Pacific Railroad graded a right of way through the area soon after. The town site was laid out in the late 1880s by Thomas B. Stevenson, on land from McKibbon and Harriet Douglass. Streets and highways were dedicated to public use on 19 July 1887. The place was first known as Hendricks, after an early settler, and the post office carried that name until it was changed to Douglas in 1888.
Later years
Douglas reached its largest recorded population, 305, in 1910. Main Street once held some thirty businesses. The school grew from a single room to a K-12 building before closing for lack of enrolment. The village marked its centennial in 1988.
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Douglas began as a pre-emption claim staked by Hiram Hendricks in 1856, with a post office named "Hendricks" opening in 1863. The townsite was platted around 1888 by Simpson McKibbon, Tom Smith, and Nebraska City lawyer Thomas B. Stevenson, and the post office was renamed Douglas that same year. The village sits in the southwest corner of Otoe County and celebrated its centennial in 1988, dated from its 1888 platting and renaming.
Douglas, in Otoe County's southwest corner, traces to an 1856 settlement originally known as Hendricks.
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