The Person:
From Wikipedia entry on Stephen_A._Douglas:
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"Stephen Arnold Douglas (April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician from Illinois and the designer of the Kansas–Nebraska Act. He was a member of the House of Representatives, the United States Senate, and the Democratic Party nominee for president in the 1860 election, losing to Republican Abraham Lincoln. Douglas had previously defeated Lincoln in a Senate contest, noted for the famous Lincoln–Douglas debates of 1858. He was nicknamed the "Little Giant" because he was short in physical stature, but a forceful and dominant figure in politics. (His height is given in various sources as being in the range of 5 feet (1.5 m) to 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m); five feet four is reported most often.)
Douglas was well known as a resourceful party leader, and an adroit, ready, skillful tactician in debate and passage of legislation. He was a champion of the Young America movement which sought to modernize politics and replace the agrarian and strict constructionist orthodoxies of the past. Douglas was a leading proponent of democracy, and believed in the principle of popular sovereignty: that the majority of citizens should decide contentious issues such as slavery and territorial expansion. As chairman of the Committee on Territories, Douglas dominated the Senate from 1850 to 1859. He was largely responsible for the Compromise of 1850 that apparently settled slavery issues; however, in 1854 he reopened the slavery question with the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which opened some previously prohibited territories to slavery under popular sovereignty. Opposition to this led to the formation of the Republican Party.
Douglas initially endorsed the Dred Scott decision of 1857. But during the 1858 Senate campaign, he argued its effect could be negated by popular sovereignty. He also opposed the efforts of President James Buchanan and his Southern allies to enact a Federal slave code and impose the Lecompton Constitution on Kansas.
In 1860, the conflict over slavery led to the split in the Democratic Party in the 1860 Convention. Hardline pro-slavery Southerners rejected Douglas, and nominated their own candidate, Vice President John C. Breckinridge, while the Northern Democrats nominated Douglas. Douglas deeply believed in democracy, arguing the will of the people should always be decisive. When civil war came in April 1861, he rallied his supporters to the Union cause with all his energies, but he died of typhoid fever a few weeks later."
The Place:
From the Wikipedia page for Douglas County, Kansas:
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"Douglas County (county code DG) is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 110,826, making it the fifth-most populous county in Kansas. Its county seat and most populous city is Lawrence.
In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. In 1855, Douglas County was established. Douglas County was opened for settlement on May 15, 1854, and was named for Stephen A. Douglas, a senator from Illinois. The county was practically at the center of the Bleeding Kansas years as leaders in Lecompton, the territorial capital, wanted Kansas to be a slave state and leaders in Lawrence wanted Kansas to be a free state. Because of this, multiple events took place, including the drafting of the Lecompton Constitution admitting Kansas as a slave state, the sacking of Lawrence, and the Battle of Black Jack.
The first railroad in Douglas County, the Union Pacific, was built through that territory in 1864."
The Courthouse:
From the National Register Application:
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"The three and one-half story native stone Douglas county courthouse is basically rectangular in plan with slight irregularities caused by the clock tower, the stair tower, the gable ends and the entrance features. The exterior walls of the Romanesque structure are constructed of rough-hewn Cottonwood limestone laid in regular courses. A narrow band of smooth cut limestone runs entirely around the building at the first floor sill. A wide band of smooth cut limestone wraps entirely around the building at the first floor lintels.
The building has a combination of roof forms. The south portion has a gable roof running east-west with an intersecting gable roof for the large dormer on the south. The north portion has a truncated hip roof with a large gable dormer on the north and small gable dormers on the east and west. The walls on all the gable ends extend past the roof line. The roof is covered with wood shingles and all ridge lines have metal caps.
The dominant feature of the courthouse is the square clock tower. Located on the west side just north of the main entrance, it rises six stories high and is terminated by a pyramidal roof, which in turn is capped by a metal finial. Four large minarets begin on the sixth floor and rise past the roof line, adding to the impressive character of the tower. At the fifth floor small corbelled out balconies with iron railings are placed on all but the east side. The clock in the tower is still in working order."