Ottawa, Ohio

Ottawa is a village in Putnam County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located about southwest of Toledo. The population is 4,456 as of the 2020 census.

History

thumb|left|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; the date of their deaths was apparently prior to April 20, 1792, at Lower Tawa Town, an Ottawa village. (The Ottawa County Courthouse stands on the site of their killings). 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 , of which is land and is water.

Demographics

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

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Ottawa had a population of 4,456. The median age was 42.4 years. 23.7% of residents were under the age of 18, and 21.5% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 94.2 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.7 males age 18 and over.

95.5% of residents lived in urban areas, while 4.5% lived in rural areas.

There were 1,855 households in Ottawa, of which 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 46.6% were married-couple households, 18.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 28.5% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 34.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. of 2010, there were 4,460 people, 1,829 households, and 1,207 families living in the village. The population density was . There were 1,983 housing units at an average density of . 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.

2000 census

As of the census

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