The school is named after the Douglases of Mains, who were a branch family of the Clan Douglas. The Douglases are an ancient clan, and subsequent noble house from the Scottish Lowlands who held vast territories throughout the Scottish Borders; Angus, Lothian, Moray, and in France and Sweden. The Douglases of Mains were related to the main branch through their common ancestor Archibald I, Lord of Douglas, a Scottish medieval nobleman born in the 12th century. The lands of the Mains, where the school is situated, were originally granted by the Earl of Lennox to Maurice Galbraith in the 13th century. The Galbraith Family held these lands until 1373, when a descendant of Lord Douglas's second son, Nicholas Douglas, married Janet Galbraith, the heiress of the Mains. Thus, the Douglas family inherited the extensive lands of the Mains, and were elevated to Lairds of the estate in the same year by King Robert II of Scotland. The title became extinct in the 20th century; the last of the estate was sold to Dunbartonshire county and was subsequently used for the erection of the secondary school, Douglas Academy, in Milngavie prior to the death of the last heir, the 21st Lord of Mains, Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Vivian Campbell Douglas in 1977. The original school building served the site from 1967 until 2009, when it was demolished and replaced with a newer one.
New building
As part of an extensive PPP project marshalled by the Scottish Government with £100 million funding, Douglas Academy has been rebuilt along with various other East Dunbartonshire schools. The new Douglas Academy building replaced the old school with a modern new look from the beginning of the 2009–2010 school year.
Surrounding area
The school is flanked by the housing estate, aptly named "Mains" estate, after the aforementioned Lairds of the Mains. However, looking outwards, Douglas Academy is situated in the heart of the suburb of Milngavie, just north of its own village centre. Due to this, Douglas Academy continues to educate succeeding generations of Milngavie's family residents, whether they live in the Mains estate or outwith, and co-operation between the school and the town remains high. Indeed, this is directly achieved through the rich, shared history of Douglas Academy and Milngavie articulated in the fore article. A poignant example of this shared history came in the wake of the First World War when the 20th Laird of Mains, Brigadier-General Campbell Douglas, father to the mentioned 21st and last, unveiled the Milngavie War Memorial in the village centre in 1922. The Laird proclaimed:
Associate schools
Baldernock Primary School, Baldernock
Clober Primary School, Milngavie
Craigdhu Primary School, Milngavie
Milngavie Primary School, Milngavie
These schools, as associate schools, are the main "feeder" schools for Douglas Academy.
School badge
The coat of arms on the school badge combines references to the school's geographical position and to the history of the grounds in which it is situated. It was designed by a student. The upper half, with its cross and roses, is part of the arms of the Burgh of Milngavie, while the lower half shows symbols associated with the Douglas family, owners for many generations of the Mains Estate on which the school stands. By tradition, the heart represents the heart of Bruce, taken by a member of the Douglas family on crusade against the Moors. The Gaelic motto "Neart-Tre-Eolas" means "Strength Through Knowledge".
