Douglas

Douglas, city, seat (1858) of Coffee county, south-central Georgia, U.S., about 80 miles (130 km) east of Albany. It was founded in 1858 and was named for U.S. Sen. Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, who became Abraham Lincoln’s opponent in the 1860 presidential election. The city is the trading centre for a large agricultural area and is one of the state’s most important tobacco markets. Logging, livestock raising, poultry production, and the manufacture of mobile homes, engines and engine parts, and clothing are other economic activities. South Georgia College, established there in 1906, was the state’s oldest state-supported junior college; in 2013 it merged with Waycross College to become South Georgia State College. General Coffee State Park is about 6 miles (10 km) to the east. Inc. town, 1895; city, 1899. Pop. (2000) 10,639; (2010) 11,589.