Ottawa dates to 1861, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns · #540 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Putnam County Courthouse, the Ottawa Waterworks Building and the Dr. H. Huber Block. Its Register listings are the Putnam County Courthouse, the Ottawa Waterworks Building and the Dr. H. Huber Block. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1850.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1839.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Ottawa’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ottawa is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #540 of 993 in Ohio. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ottawa’s overall grade.
Ohio towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Ohio town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Ottawa’s 6.8 sits above most of its state (69% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.7 points). Two sources give 1861.
Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Ottawa’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every building
Ottawa, building by building, 1884–1911
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
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.
iene The Village of Ottawa is located in Ottawa township, in Putnam county, Ohio, on the Blanchard fork of the great Auglaize river, twenty-two miles nearly west of the city of Findlay, and about fourteen miles above the point where the Blanchard The village of Ottawa was laid out on the last Tawa Reserve in Ohio, and on the site of the old Indian town of Lower Tawa in 1834, by Aughinbaugh
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Putnam County, Ohio1915 · page 132Read the page →
Read the text
The town of Ottawa was laid out by Aughinbaugh and Barnett in June, 1834. It was the site of the old Indian town of Lower Tawa, named after the tribe of Indians who had a reserve of about twenty-eight sections of land in this township. In 1832 the Indians sold this tract of land to the United States, and left for that part of the Indian territory which at present is a part of Kansas. The original town plat consisted of only one hundred and twenty-eight lots. This subject will be taken up more fully in another chapter.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Putnam County, Ohio1915 · page 133Read the page →
Read the text
The site where the village of Ottawa now stands was once a center of the Indian tribes of northeastern Ohio, but before the village proper was laid out, the Indians had bidden adieu to their once-famous abode. At the time the first settlers came to this part of the state to make permanent settlements, which was around 1825-30, there were but few Indians making their home in Tawa village. The Indians had ceded their reservation to the white man and were transferred to their new reservation in Kansas. However, only about two-thirds of them ever reached their new home, as they died of small-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent1896 · page 521Read the page →
Read the text
himself laid out. Mr. Franck served as county engineer for thirty-eight years — during which time he platted all the towns in Ottawa county — and for thirty-three years as county surveyor, and the greater part of the roads and ditches and townships have been laid out and platted by him or under his supervision. In 1856
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Ottawa, 1839 to 1962
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
In 1861, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Ottawa’s post office opened in 1839, and the census of 1850 counted 104 people here.
How does Ottawa rank for history?
Ottawa is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #540 of 993 in Ohio. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Ottawa?
Three places: the Putnam County Courthouse (listed 1974), the Ottawa Waterworks Building (1976) and the Dr. H. Huber Block (1980).
How old are the homes in Ottawa?
17% of Ottawa’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.7 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1974.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1908
1909
1909
1910
