The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗New Douglas was laid out by Alonzo Foster in 1860, the village got its namesake from the Illinois Senator Stephan A. Douglas . The community was centered on the local coal mines and farming into the early 1900s. When need for coal dropped in the 1950s the town fell back on its farming roots, mostly of corn and soybeans.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Be one of the first
Start New Douglas’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how New Douglas’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10By decade
New Douglas, decade by decade
Before
2000
2000
No old photos in the archives yetWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
📷 Add from your albumNational Register of Historic Places
Nothing in New Douglas is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean New Douglas has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Soulsby Service Station in Mount Olive, 8.1 miles away.
New Douglas and the nearest listed places
Dashed line = New Douglas. Tap a dot.
Closest to New Douglas
How a place gets listed
1Talk to the stateEvery nomination goes through the State Historic Preservation Office. Owners, towns and historical societies can start one.
2Try a local or state list firstMany states keep their own register with a shorter form, a common first step for old barns, halls and schoolhouses.
3Write it upA nomination covers the history, photos and a map. Soulsby Service Station’s page links to a real one.
Know an old place in New Douglas?A mill, a schoolhouse, a cellar hole, a church: add a photo of it to New Douglas’s story, or a memory of it.
📷 Add a photo of an old placeNational Park Service, National Register of Historic Places · photos from Wikimedia Commons
Then & now
When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.