Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

Ottawa, Ohio

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1908 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Ottawa Township. It lies in ZIP code area 45875. It stands on Tawa Run. The Survey maps it on the Ottawa quadrangle. 4,456 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 466 feet above sea level.

Ottawa within Putnam County

Population over time

2 figures

Ottawa fell from 4,460 to 4,456 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

Year	People	Change
2010	4,460
2020	4,456	-4 (-0%)

Then and now

1908 to 1986

The same ground, surveyed 78 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Ottawa, surveyed 1986

Topographic sheet of Ottawa, surveyed 1908

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

What happened here

An account from the chapter on Ottawa township, The inset identifies its exact source book and publication year.

From History of Putnam County, Ohio : Its Peoples, Industries, and Institutions, published 1915 - Ottawa Township

Cholera At Gilboa In 1852

In 1852, during the epidemic of cholera, Gilboa was the worst afflicted illage in the county. It had nineteen cases of the dread disease, from which fourteen deaths occurred, only five persons who had the disease recovering. A great many of the people fled from the village, and only two doctorsremained to administer to the afflicted.

Read the rest of this passage

In the county-history sources

352,608 words on this township

History of Putnam County, Ohio : Its Peoples, Industries, and Institutions, published 1915 names this settlement in its chapter on Ottawa Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Ottawa township was organized in March, 1835, with a limited number of people who had settled in the township during the previous two years. One of the first white settlers in the township was Geoi-ge Agner, who came here in the year 1832 and, the following year, settled on a farm east of Ottawa. William Galbreath settled on the farm adjoining Ottawa in the same year. Mr. Galbreath served in the War of 18 12 and was present at the battle of Fort Meigs. William and Jonathan Y. Sackett, Henry Crawfis, Meridith Parish, Henry Ridenour, James Parish and Christian Huber are numbered with the pioneers of this township.

Passage source: History of Putnam County, Ohio : Its Peoples, Industries, and Institutions, published 1915.

The first school held in the township was taught by Christian Huber. It was held in a log cabin located northeast of the present waterworks of Ottawa. Mr. Huber was of German birth, well educated and took a prominent part in the early political affairs of the county. His pupils were a mixed assemblage of youths, a number of Indian boys being enrolled under him. The Indian boys, however, were loth to attend school regularly and frequently "played hookey," to hunt and fish.

Passage source: History of Putnam County, Ohio : Its Peoples, Industries, and Institutions, published 1915.

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.

Passage source: History of Putnam County, Ohio : Its Peoples, Industries, and Institutions, published 1915.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Ottawa Township - it names this place 384 more 384 times.

Fires near this place

4 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 4 fires within 5 miles of Ottawa between 2002 and 2002, burning about 3 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Recreation and ceremony	2
Equipment and vehicle use	1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
6 July 2002	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office	not named
5 May 2002	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office	not named
25 February 2002	Recreation and ceremony	1.0 acres	Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office	not named
18 October 2002	Equipment and vehicle use	1.0 acres	Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Putnam County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 103 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 103 specimens collected within 10 miles of Ottawa between 1860 and 1969: 95 Animalia, 8 Plantae. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by Adler, K. K., Blyth & Katz, Bureau of Fisheries and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Lampsilis radiata radiata (Gmelin, 1791)	1893	Bureau of Fisheries	Blanchard River
Lasmigona costata (Rafinesque, 1820)	1893	not recorded	Blanchard River, Ottawa
Ligumia recta (Lamarck, 1819)	1893	O. E.	Blanchard River, Ottawa
Hybopsis amblops (Rafinesque, 1820)	1860	unknown	Blanchard R. at Ottawa
Botaurus lentiginosus (Rackett, 1813)	1878	not recorded
Calidris alpina (Linnaeus, 1758)	1878	Porter collection, J.B.
Calidris minutilla (Vieillot, 1819)	1878	Porter collection, J.B.
Chlidonias niger (Linnaeus, 1758)	1878	Porter collection, J.B.
Gallinago gallinago (Linnaeus, 1758)	1878	Porter, J.B.
Gallinula chloropus (Linnaeus, 1758)	1878	Porter, J.B.
Sterna hirundo Linnaeus, 1758	1878	Porter collection, J.B.
Botaurus Stephens, 1819	1879	not recorded

All 103 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Ottawa: 2 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Limestone, General, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Glandorf Tile Company Pit	Clay	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Putnam Quarry	Limestone, General	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Putnam Stone Co.	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer

Every working recorded in Putnam County

Storms near this place

35 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ottawa in 35 storm reports between 1993 and 2022: 18 thunderstorm wind, 13 hail, 3 flash flood, 1 dust devil. The reports record 1 death. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
May 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	1 killed, $10,000	Numerous trees down including one that fell on a car causing a fatality.
December 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	$10,000	TREES AND POWER LINES WERE BLOWN DOWN ACROSS THE TOWN.
July 1997	Flash Flood	Ottawa	$10,000	Heavy rainfall caused streets to flood. Also, Cranberry creek flooded a few homes.
May 1997	Flash Flood	Ottawa	$10,000	Numerous roads closed due to persistent heavy rainfall.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	$5,000	Emergency management officials reported a tent and a temporary wall blown down at the county fair.
August 1997	Flash Flood	Ottawa	$5,000	Several hours of thunderstorms with torrential downpours caused many roads to be flooded.
June 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	$5,000	Numerous large limbs downed.
September 1993	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	$5,000	Damage occurred to several outbuildings.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	-	The public reported shingle damage to several residences as well as five large, healthy trees being blown down.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	-	Trained spotters reported estimated wind gusts of 60 mph.
October 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	-	A storm chaser recorded a 60 mph wind gust.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	-	A trained spotter measured a 58 mph wind gust and observed some smaller tree branches down, up to three inches in diameter.
May 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	-	The public reported a six inch diameter tree limb down at the intersection of Locust and 3rd Street.
June 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	-	A trained spotter reported a portion of a roof being blown off a factory as well as trees being uprooted in the area.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	-	A trained spotter reported a tree was blown down.
August 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	-	Trained spotter measure a 60 mph wind gust. Several tree limbs were found down in the area.
June 2005	Dust Devil	Ottawa	-	Pictures and eyewitness reports confirmed a large dust devil developed on a clear and sunny day. This dust devil extended over 100 feet into the air as was easily visible. Local law enforceent officials did track the feature, with no damage being reported.
June 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	-	Law enforcement reported 15 power poles down south of Ottawa.
April 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	-	Law enforcement reported trees and power lines down across the county.
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	-	Law enforcement reported trees and power lines down in Ottawa.
June 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	-	Several trees down.
August 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Ottawa	-	Trees down.
October 2020	Hail	Ottawa	-	no account filed
May 2017	Hail	Ottawa	-	no account filed
April 2017	Hail	Ottawa	-	no account filed
September 2017	Hail	Ottawa	-	no account filed
May 2015	Hail	Ottawa	-	no account filed
October 2014	Hail	Ottawa	-	no account filed
July 2013	Hail	Ottawa	-	no account filed
May 2011	Hail	Ottawa	-	no account filed
May 2006	Hail	Ottawa	-	no account filed
April 2003	Hail	Ottawa	-	no account filed
June 2000	Hail	Ottawa	-	no account filed
July 1996	Hail	Ottawa	-	no account filed
June 1995	Hail	Ottawa	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Putnam County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Green Acres Estates	1.1 miles	12
Upper Tauwa (historical)	1.5 miles	12
Glandorf	1.8 miles	12
New Cleveland	3.8 miles	12
Wards (historical)	5.9 miles	12
Elm Center	6.2 miles	12
Leipsic	6.4 miles	9
Avis	6.5 miles	11

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Ottawa	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q993732	The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1070881. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.