Ottawa, Kansas
Encyclopedia
Ottawa is a city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...

 situated along the Marais des Cygnes River
Marais des Cygnes River
The Marais des Cygnes River is a principal tributary of the Osage River, about long, in eastern Kansas and western Missouri in the United States. Via the Osage and Missouri rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River...

 in the central part of Franklin County
Franklin County, Kansas
Franklin County is a county located in East Central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 25,992. Its county seat and most populous city is Ottawa...

, located in east-central Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, 50 miles southwest of Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

, Mo.
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

, in the central United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 12,649. It is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

and most populous city of Franklin County. Ottawa is included in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area
Kansas City Metropolitan Area
The Kansas City Metropolitan Area is a fifteen-county metropolitan area that is anchored by Kansas City, Missouri and is bisected by the border between the states of Missouri and Kansas. As of the 2010 Census, the metropolitan area has a population of 2,035,334. The metropolitan area is the...

.

History

The town grew up around Ottawa Indian
Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma
The Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma is one of four federally recognized Native American tribes of Ottawa Indians. The other three tribes, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, are located in...

 settlements. The tribe lived in the area from 1837 to 1867 and donated land for Ottawa University
Ottawa University
Ottawa University is a private, non-profit, faith-based liberal arts college located in Ottawa, Kansas. It was founded in 1865 and is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA...

. The town and university were named for the tribe.

The city of Ottawa has a history of flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...

ing due to the Marais Des Cygnes river. One of the first big floods which was noted happened in 1844, twenty years before the city's founding in 1864. No official measurements were taken, though was estimated to be at 40 feet (12.2 m). A flood in 1928 had a crest point of 38.65 in which 6 people died. Other flood years include 1904, with a crest of 35.8 feet (10.9 m); 1909, cresting at 36.3 feet (11.1 m); 1915, cresting at 31 feet (9.4 m), and 1944 cresting at 36.5 feet (11.1 m).

However, it is the Great Flood of 1951
Great Flood of 1951
In mid-July 1951, heavy rains led to a great rise of water in the Kansas River and other surrounding areas. Flooding resulted in the Kansas, Neosho, Marais Des Cygnes, and Verdigris river basins. The damage in June and July 1951 exceeded $935 million dollars in an area covering eastern Kansas and...

 which is the most famous. It was about five inches higher than the 1928 flood. The flood of 1951 affected much of Missouri and Kansas and 41 people died. 1/3 of Ottawa was covered because of this flood.

It is unlikely that Ottawa will suffer major damage due to a flood again thanks to a series of levees and pumping stations built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1960s. It is actually part of a larger system of flood systems to regulate the Marais Des Cygnes river all the way to the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...

. The levees built along the river are inspected on an annual basis to insure their quality.

In 1943, German and Italian prisoners of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 were brought to Kansas and other Midwest states as a means of solving the labor shortage caused by American men serving in the war effort. Large internment
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...

 camps were established in Kansas: Camp Concordia
Camp Concordia
Camp Concordia was a Prisoner-of-war camp that operated from 1943-1945. Its location is two miles north and one mile east of Concordia, Kansas...

, Camp Funston (at Fort Riley
Fort Riley
Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in Northeast Kansas, on the Kansas River, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 100,656 acres in Geary and Riley counties and includes two census-designated places: Fort Riley North and Fort...

), Camp Phillips (at Salina
Salina, Kansas
Salina is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 47,707. Located in one of the world's largest wheat-producing areas, Salina is a regional trade center for north-central Kansas...

 under Fort Riley
Fort Riley
Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in Northeast Kansas, on the Kansas River, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 100,656 acres in Geary and Riley counties and includes two census-designated places: Fort Riley North and Fort...

). Fort Riley
Fort Riley
Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in Northeast Kansas, on the Kansas River, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 100,656 acres in Geary and Riley counties and includes two census-designated places: Fort Riley North and Fort...

 established 12 smaller branch camps, including Ottawa.

Geography

Ottawa is located at 38°36′43"N 95°15′59"W (38.612044, -95.266513). The city is situated along the Marais des Cygnes River
Marais des Cygnes River
The Marais des Cygnes River is a principal tributary of the Osage River, about long, in eastern Kansas and western Missouri in the United States. Via the Osage and Missouri rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River...

. It is located 58 miles (93.3 km) southwest of Kansas City
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified...

 at the junction of U.S. Route 59 and K-68
K-68 (Kansas highway)
The K-68 is a state highway in Kansas beginning at Missouri Route 2 and passing through Louisburg where it intersects with U.S. Highway 69. Four miles west of Louisburg, K-68 intersects with U.S. 169 and K-7, it also provides an end terminus with K-33 in Franklin County. As K-68 enters Ottawa, it...

. U.S. Route 50 and Interstate 35 bypass to the south of the city with the business route
Business route
A business route in the United States and Canada is a short special route connected to a parent numbered highway at its beginning, then routed through the central business district of a nearby city or town, and finally reconnecting with the same parent numbered highway again at its...

 for US-50 passing through the city.

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the city has a total area of 6.7 square miles (17.4 km²), of which 6.7 square miles (17.4 km²) is land and 0.15% is water.

Climate

Over the course of a year, temperatures range from an average low of about 20 °F (-6.7 °C) in January to an average high over 90 °F (32.2 °C) in July. The maximum temperature reaches 90 °F (32.2 °C) an average of 52 days per year and reaches 100 °F (37.8 °C) an average of 6 days per year. The minimum temperature falls below the freezing point (32°F) an average of 105 days per year. Typically the first fall freeze occurs between the beginning of October and early November, and the last spring freeze occurs between the end of March and late April.

The area receives nearly 40 inches (1,016 mm) of precipitation during an average year with the largest share being received in May and June—the April–June period averages 29 days of measurable precipitation. During a typical year the total amount of precipitation may be anywhere from 28 to 51 inches (1,295.4 mm). There are on average 87 days of measurable precipitation per year. Winter snowfall averages almost 16 inches, but the median is less than 9 inches (228.6 mm). Measurable snowfall occurs an average of 8 days per year with at least an inch of snow being received on five of those days. Snow depth of at least an inch occurs an average of 6 days per year.
> > > > > > > > > > > > >
align="bottom" style="padding:0 0;margin:0 0;"| Source: Monthly Station Climate Summaries, 1971–2000, U.S. National Climatic Data Center
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Notes: Temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...

s are in degrees Fahrenheit. Precipitation
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...

 includes rain
Rain
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...

 and melted snow
Snow
Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...

 or sleet
Ice pellets
Ice pellets are a form of precipitation consisting of small, translucent balls of ice. Ice pellets usually are smaller than hailstones. They often bounce when they hit the ground, and generally do not freeze into a solid mass unless mixed with freezing rain...

 in inches; median
Median
In probability theory and statistics, a median is described as the numerical value separating the higher half of a sample, a population, or a probability distribution, from the lower half. The median of a finite list of numbers can be found by arranging all the observations from lowest value to...

 values are provided for precipitation and snowfall because mean
Arithmetic mean
In mathematics and statistics, the arithmetic mean, often referred to as simply the mean or average when the context is clear, is a method to derive the central tendency of a sample space...

 averages may be misleading. Mean and median values are for the 30-year period 1971–2000; temperature extremes are for the station's period of record (1900–2001). The station is located in Ottawa at 38°37′N 95°17′W, elevation 900 feet (274.3 m).

Demographics

As of the U.S. Census in 2000
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

, there were 11,921 people, 4,697 households, and 3,034 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 1,781.0 people per square mile (688.0/km²). There were 5,080 housing units at an average density of 759.0 per square mile (293.2/km²). The racial
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

 makeup of the city was 92.77% White, 2.31% Black or African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

, 1.22% Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 or Alaska Native, 0.53% Asian
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...

, 0.01% Pacific Islander
Pacific Islander American
Pacific Islander Americans, also known as Oceanian Americans, are residents of the United States with original ancestry from Oceania. They represent the smallest racial group counted in the United States census of 2000. They numbered 874,000 people or 0.3 percent of the United States population...

, 1.31% from other races, and 1.86% from two or more races
Multiracial
The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from multiple races. Unlike the term biracial, which often is only used to refer to having parents or grandparents of two different races, the term multiracial may encompass biracial people but can also include people with...

. Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

 or Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...

 of any race were 4.16% of the population.

There were 4,697 households out of which 33.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.1% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.4% were non-families. 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.00.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.6% under the age of 18, 11.5% from 18 to 24, 27.7% from 25 to 44, 18.3% from 45 to 64, and 15.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 95.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.0 males.

The median income for a household
Median household income
The median household income is commonly used to generate data about geographic areas and divides households into two equal segments with the first half of households earning less than the median household income and the other half earning more...

 in the city was $34,071, and the median income for a family was $41,710. Males had a median income of $30,050 versus $22,891 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the city was $16,840. About 6.8% of families and 9.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.0% of those under age 18 and 8.1% of those age 65 or over.

Law and government

Ottawa was governed by a Mayor-Council system until 1913 when the City became a Commission form of government. In 1970 voters established the City Manager form of government with a five member Commission that annually selects a Mayor from its ranks. The citizens of Ottawa elect commissioners at-large. Three seats on the Commission are open every odd numbered year. Two Commissioners are elected to four-year terms and one is elected to a two-year term.

Newspapers

There are two publications which serve the city of Ottawa, the Ottawa Herald
Ottawa Herald
-History:In 1896, Joseph L. Bristow, who later was elected U.S. senator, and Henry J. Allen, who later became an editor at the Wichita Beacon, Kansas governor, and U.S. senator decided to buy the weekly Evening Ottawa and turn it into a daily newspaper. The Evening Ottawa was free at first,...

 and the Ottawa Times. The Ottawa Herald was founded in 1869 and is currently owned by Harris Enterprises Inc.

A monthly publication for seniors also serves Ottawa:

Radio

Ottawa has four radio stations, 1 AM and 3 FM. KOFO-AM broadcasts on 1220 with the tagline "Your Newssource for East-Central Kansas
East-Central Kansas
East-Central Kansas is a region of Kansas. Extending roughly from Osage County, Franklin County, and Miami County in the north to Coffey County, Anderson County and Linn County in the south. The eastern border is Missouri. The region then extends westward towards the Flint Hills to Lyon County...

. KOFO airs country music from across the decades, and specializes in local news. KCHZ
KCHZ
KCHZ , known as "95.7 The Vibe", is a Contemporary Hit Radio radio station serving the Kansas City metropolitan area from Ottawa, Kansas. The Cumulus Broadcasting outlet operates at 95.7 MHz with an ERP of 96 kW. Its transmitter is located near Linwood, Kansas.-History:KCHZ began...

 broadcasts from Ottawa on 95.7, with the actual studios in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

. 88.9 is home to the Ottawa University
Ottawa University
Ottawa University is a private, non-profit, faith-based liberal arts college located in Ottawa, Kansas. It was founded in 1865 and is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA...

 student station, KTJO-FM
KTJO-FM
KTJO-FM is a radio station broadcasting a modern rock music format. Licensed to Ottawa, Kansas, USA, the station is currently owned by Ottawa University....

. 90.5FM features the Ottawa-based KRBW's Christian programming.

Education

Ottawa is served by USD 290 for public education. The private four year university, Ottawa University
Ottawa University
Ottawa University is a private, non-profit, faith-based liberal arts college located in Ottawa, Kansas. It was founded in 1865 and is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA...

, is also located within Ottawa. Ottawa is also home to a branch campus of Neosho County Community College
Neosho County Community College
Neosho County Community College is located in Chanute, Kansas, USA and a secondary campus is located in Ottawa, Kansas. NCCC began in 1936 as Chanute junior college for graduates of high school. In 1961, due to state legislators Chanute Junior College included both Neosho County and Franklin...

.

USD 290 public education schools:
  • Ottawa High School
    Ottawa High School (Kansas)
    Ottawa Senior High School, or Ottawa High School, is a public high school located in Ottawa, Kansas, serving students in grades 9-12. Its athletic teams, known as the Cyclones, compete in the Frontier Athletic League. The principal is Rick Johnson, the assistant principal is Ryan Cobbs, and the...

  • Ottawa Middle School
  • Eisenhower Elementary School
  • Garfield Elementary School
  • Lincoln Elementary School
  • Eugene Field Elementary school


Several private schools are also located in Ottawa.
  • Sacred Heart Catholic Elementary School
  • Pilgrim Bible Academy
  • Ottawa Christian Academy

Notable people

  • Steve Grogan
    Steve Grogan
    Steve James Grogan is a former American football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. Grogan played for the Patriots for his entire NFL career, from 1975 to 1990.-High school and college:...

    , former New England Patriots
    New England Patriots
    The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...

     quarterback, led Ottawa to a runner-up place in state football and to a state championship in basketball.
  • Don Harrison
    Don Harrison
    Don Harrison was an anchor on CNN Headline News from 1982 until his death from renal cancer in 1998. He was a member of the original team of anchors when Headline News went on the air for the first time as "CNN2" in 1982....

    , news anchor, one of the original anchors of CNN Headline News
    CNN Headline News
    HLN, formerly known as CNN Headline News and CNN2, is a cable television news channel based in the United States and a spinoff of the cable news television channel, CNN. Initially airing tightly-formatted 30-minute newscasts around the clock, since 2005, the channel has increasingly aired long-form...

  • Gary Hart
    Gary Hart
    Gary Hart is an American politician, lawyer, author, professor and commentator. He served as a Democratic Senator representing Colorado , and ran in the U.S...

    , former Democratic U. S. Senator from Colorado and Presidential Candidate in 1984 and 1988
  • Steve Hawley, American astronaut (considers Salina as his hometown)
  • Isaac Smith Kalloch
    Isaac Smith Kalloch
    Isaac Smith Kalloch was the 18th Mayor of San Francisco serving from December 1, 1879 to December 4, 1881. He was born at Rockland, Maine and was a native of Maine. Kalloch was a Baptist minister and came to California looking to spread the Baptist religion.In 1879, he decided to run for mayor of...

    , signatory of Ottawa's original town company charter, later became Mayor of San Francisco
    Mayor of San Francisco
    The Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of San Francisco's city and county government. The mayor has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the legislative branch....

  • Jerry Voorhis
    Jerry Voorhis
    Horace Jeremiah "Jerry" Voorhis was a Democratic politician from California. He served five terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1937 to 1947, representing the 12th Congressional district in Los Angeles County...

    , U. S. Representative for California's 12th congressional district
    California's 12th congressional district
    California's 12th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California that spans from the southwestern portions of San Francisco in the north down to San Mateo in the south, and from Moss Beach in the west to the edge of San Mateo in the east, where it borders...

     from 1937–1947
  • John G. Thompson
    John G. Thompson
    John Griggs Thompson is a mathematician at the University of Florida noted for his work in the field of finite groups. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1970, the Wolf Prize in 1992 and the 2008 Abel Prize....

    , a prominent mathematician.
  • Stanley Sheldon
    Stanley Sheldon
    Stanley Sheldon is a bass guitar player best known for his work with Peter Frampton. He is notable as an early adopter of the fretless bass for rock music....

    , bassist and vocalist for Peter Frampton
    Peter Frampton
    Peter Kenneth Frampton is an English musician, singer, producer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. He was previously associated with the bands Humble Pie and The Herd. Frampton's international breakthrough album was his live release, Frampton Comes Alive!. The album sold over 6 million copies...

    , most notably on Frampton's Frampton Comes Alive!
    Frampton Comes Alive!
    Frampton Comes Alive! is a double live album by English rock musician Peter Frampton released in 1976, and one of the best-selling live albums in the United States. Following four solo albums with little commercial success, Frampton Comes Alive! was a breakthrough for the artist.Released on January...

    album.
  • Brett Staneart, recipient of a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series Writing Team and Writers Guild Award (Guiding

Light)

External links

Official sites

Additional information
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