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Ottawa, Ohio
Village
Putnam County Courthouse
Location of Ottawa, Ohio
Location of Ottawa, Ohio
Location of Ottawa in Putnam County
Location of Ottawa in Putnam County
Country United States
State Ohio
County Putnam
Area
 • Total 4.61 sq mi (11.95 km2)
 • Land 4.55 sq mi (11.78 km2)
 • Water 0.07 sq mi (0.17 km2)  1.47%
Elevation
732 ft (141.7 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total 4,456
 • Density 979.99/sq mi (378.34/km2)
Time zone UTC-5 (EST)
 • Summer (DST) UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code
45875
Area code(s) 419
FIPS code 39-58982
GNIS feature ID 2399596
Website http://www.ottawaohio.us

Ottawa is a village and the county seat of Putnam County, Ohio, United States. It is located about 51 miles (82 km) southwest of Toledo. The population is 4,456 as of the 2020 census.

History

C25073-18
President Ronald Reagan visiting Ottawa on a whistle stop tour in 1984

The region was long inhabited by the Iroquoian-speaking Wyandot and Algonquian-speaking Ottawa tribes, who settled along the Blanchard River. In 1792 President George Washington sent Major Alexander Truman, his servant William Lynch, and guide/interpreter William Smalley on a peace mission to the tribes. Truman and Lynch were killed; Truman was apparently killed prior to April 20, 1792, at Lower Tawa Town, an Ottawa village. A similar mission led by Colonel John Hardin ended with Hardin and his servant Freeman being killed in Shelby County; the tribes resisted European-American encroachment.

During the War of 1812 between the US and Great Britain, numerous tribes allied with the British in the hope of keeping European Americans out of their territories. Unable to resist the continued pressure, in 1817, the tribes ceded a large tract of land in Northwestern Ohio to the United States. Blanchard's Fork Reserve was established. The tribes ceded this Reserve in 1831, during the era of Indian Removal, and their land claims in the state were extinguished. The Ottawa population on that Reserve removed to Indian Territory in present-day Kansas in 1832. Within the Reserve, two Ottawa villages existed, of which the Lower Tawa Town was the site of what developed as the village of Ottawa, Putnam County, Ohio.

European-American settlement

Among the early settlers of the Ottawa area was Henry Kohls, who arrived in 1835 and settled with his family in the village of Glandorf. In the early 1900s, his grandsons, Charles and Frank Kohls, were each elected Putnam County treasurer in successive two-year stints. Notably, while serving as treasurer, they each appointed the other as their chief deputy.

Ottawa was incorporated as a village in 1861, during the first year of the American Civil War.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 4.77 square miles (12.35 km2), of which 4.70 square miles (12.17 km2) is land and 0.07 square miles (0.18 km2) is water.

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop.
1850 104
1870 1,129
1880 1,293 14.5%
1890 1,717 32.8%
1900 2,322 35.2%
1910 2,182 −6.0%
1920 2,167 −0.7%
1930 2,169 0.1%
1940 2,342 8.0%
1950 2,962 26.5%
1960 3,870 30.7%
1970 3,622 −6.4%
1980 3,874 7.0%
1990 3,999 3.2%
2000 4,367 9.2%
2010 4,460 2.1%
2020 4,456 −0.1%
U.S. Decennial Census

95.3% spoke English, 4.2% Spanish, and 0.5% German as their first language.

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 4,460 people, 1,829 households, and 1,207 families living in the village. The population density was 948.9 inhabitants per square mile (366.4/km2). There were 1,983 housing units at an average density of 421.9 per square mile (162.9/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 92.5% White, 0.8% African American, 0.4% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 4.8% from other races, and 1.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.3% of the population.

There were 1,829 households, of which 32.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.1% were married couples living together, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 34.0% were non-families. 30.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 2.98.

The median age in the village was 38.8 years. 26.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.8% were from 25 to 44; 27.5% were from 45 to 64; and 15.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the village was 48.5% male and 51.5% female.

Education

Ottawa-Glandorf Local Schools operates Ottawa-Glandorf High School in the village.

Ottawa has a public library, a branch of the Putnam County District Library.

Notable people

  • Tanner Buchanan, actor
  • Larry Cox, baseball player for Chicago Cubs and coach
  • Edward Settle Godfrey, United States Brigadier General
  • Charles N. Haskell, politician, oilman and first governor of Oklahoma; he practiced law and lived in Ottawa for years after 1880
  • Frances Horwich, television performer famous for Ding Dong School; a monument to her was erected in Ottawa in 2006

Media

  • WJTA

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Ottawa (Ohio) para niños

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