Douglas County Museum

10/16/2026

ONE WEEK UNTIL THE BOURBON CEMETERY TOUR!

Tickets are still available, but the countdown is on! 👻 With only one week left until the main event, now is the perfect time to grab your tickets and join us for a day of history and a little cemetery mystery!

🕰️ Each tour will last about 45 minutes, with three sessions offered at 12:00 PM, 1:00 PM, and 2:00 PM.
🎟️ Tickets are $10 for non-members and $5 for members. Tickets are available now by purchase from any association board member and at the museum! Secure your spot today as tickets are limited!

10/13/2026

📸 IT’S OFFICIAL - THE PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST IS OPEN! 📸

The Douglas County Museum Photography Contest is officially accepting entries! 🎉 Photographers can drop off their entry, completed forms, and entry fees at the museum anytime between now and November 9th.

Whether you love capturing local history, beautiful scenery, or everyday moments, we can’t wait to see what you’ve been photographing! 📷✨

Don’t miss your chance to participate! We look forward to seeing your entries! ❤️

10/02/2026

Help Us Preserve Douglas County History!

The Douglas County Museum is looking for volunteers to help us digitize our collection, and we’re excited to begin with one of our most treasured resources: our yearbook collection!

We’re also hoping to expand our yearbook collection and would love to hear from anyone who may have old school yearbooks they’d be willing to donate to the museum. These yearbooks are an incredible resource for preserving the people, schools, activities, and memories that make up Douglas County’s history. ❤️

📖 Have a yearbook you’d like to donate? Please contact the museum before bringing it in so we can check our collection lists and make sure it would be a new addition to the collection!

💻 Interested in volunteering to help digitize our yearbooks? We’d love to have you join us! No prior digitization experience is necessary - we’ll be happy to work with you!

Whether you have a yearbook to share or some time to volunteer, you can help us make Douglas County history more accessible for generations to come! Please contact the Douglas County Museum!

09/24/2026

🎉 Homecoming Spirit & History! 🏈

A huge thank you to Flesor's Candy Kitchen and Bill Hill for collaborating with us here at the Douglas County Museum to bring a little homecoming history and spirit to downtown! We are so grateful for the opportunity to share local history and celebrate the traditions that make our community so special! ❤️

And we are so excited and honored to be sharing the Outside Spirit Award! 🏆🎉 A big thank you to everyone who helped make our display and celebration possible. We are proud to represent our community and bring a little museum spirit to Homecoming!

If you haven’t had a chance yet, be sure to stop by Flesor’s and check out the Homecoming display! There’s even more to see at the Douglas County Museum, where we have additional pieces on display representing all four high schools throughout Douglas County! 🏫

Thank you to everyone who helped make this Homecoming season one to remember! 🖤💛

09/23/2026

09/21/2026

📣 Calling All Arcola Alumni! 📣

With Homecoming festivities this week, we’re putting together a temporary exhibit celebrating homecoming for the high schools - but we need your help!

Unfortunately, the museum currently doesn’t have any school clothing items representing Arcola, and we would love to change that! We are looking for old Arcola jerseys, cheerleader uniforms, band uniforms, letterman jackets, or other school-related items that alumni or community members may be willing to loan or donate for the exhibit and/or our collections.

Whether you graduated recently or decades ago, your piece of Arcola history could help us tell the story of the school and celebrate the memories of generations of students. 💜🤍

If you have something you’d be willing to loan or donate, please send us a message or stop by the museum! We would love to hear from you and see what treasures are out there.

Help us bring a little Arcola pride to the museum just in time for Homecoming! 🏈📣🎺

09/16/2026

We need your help!

Tell us what you know about the Chesterville "Witch's Grave".

We are looking to gather more information about one of the local legends - the Chesterville "Witch's Grave". Do you know the story behind the grave? Have you heard a legend, a family story, or unusual detail passed down through the years? Maybe you know where the story originated, have heard different versions of the legend, or have information that you've never seen written down.

We want to know! No detail is too small! We are interested in the stories, traditions, rumors, memories, and historical details that have surrounded this site over the years.

If you know anything about this site, please feel free to share it in the comments or privately message us. We would love to hear what you know and help preserve these pieces of Douglas County history for future generations!

09/15/2026

🏆 Two Years in a Row! 🏆

We are incredibly honored and thankful to have received 3rd Place in the Museum Category for the People’s Choice Awards for the second year in a row! ❤️

Our most sincere gratitude goes out to everyone who took the time to vote, support us, visit the museum, attend our programs, and continue to believe in what we do! Being recognized by our community means more to us than we can put into words!

Thank you, Douglas County, for allowing us to preserve, share, and celebrate our local history with you. We are so grateful for your continued support! 🏛️❤️