Ottawa Township dates to 1865, and 3 of its places are on the National Register
Most of Ottawa Township was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Its Register listings are the Tauy Jones House, the Tauy Creek Bridge and the Eight Mile Creek Warren Truss Bridge. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1870.
The name derives from the Ottawa tribe of Native Americans, on whose reservation the city was laid out. In the spring of 1864, title to the land was obtained from the tribe through treaty connected to the founding of Ottawa University, the Ottawa having donated 20,000 acres of land to establish and fund a school for the education of Indians and non-Indians alike. The word Ottawa itself means "to trade". In 1867, the Ottawa tribe sold their remaining land in Kansas and moved to Indian Territory in Oklahoma.
On the last day of March 1864, J.C. Richmond built the first non-Indian settlement in the new town, at the corner of Walnut and First streets.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ottawa Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1956Ottawa North sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Ottawa Township.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewOttawa, Kansas (circa 1865-1900), 1865–1900
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Ottawa Township’s page.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Ottawa Township, census by census
Between 2,941 and 12,649 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Ottawa Township’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Places now gone and burying grounds
Gone or out of use
Baxter SchoolschoolChapel Hill SchoolschoolDavy SchoolschoolEmery Green SchoolschoolHawkins SchoolschoolLiberty SchoolschoolOttawa QuarrymineSand Creek SchoolschoolSpring Creek Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Ottawa Township
Evergreen MoundOttawa Indian Mission
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
