There are 14 population centers known as Ottawa in the USA. Some of them are counties only. There are actual towns named Ottawa in only about 6 states. Most of them are not too far from Canada. The largest Ottawa is in Illinois. It’s a substantial town on the Illinois River not too far from Chicago and the scene of a Lincoln-Douglas debate in the 19th century. Its only competition for size is the Ottawa in Kansas south of Lawrence. It has a population of about 13,000 people and a university. We went through it last year on our way to Wichita.
I spotted the Ottawa in Ohio, a town of about 5,000 people, while doing research about all of the towns in America that have Greek roots. There are a surprising number of them, and Ottawa, OH is near one of the few towns named Pandora. Pandora is a Greek name and an unincorporated Ohio town on Highway 12 north of big Lima not too far from yet another town with the Greek name of Delphos.
Of course, the largest town name Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. A city of 883,000 people, Ottawa is a great city on the Ottawa River north of Kingston. Wisely, Canada located its capital across the river from the French speaking city of Gatineau, Quebec. Ruth and I were there on Canada Day several years ago.
The only other towns named Ottawa are, strangely enough, in Africa. There is a suburb called Ottawa for the city of Durban, South Africa, and a tiny village in the country called Ivory Coast with this name.
There is a fairly substantial town named Ottawa in Wisconsin’s Waukesha County. Even though it contains 4,000 or so people, this Ottawa is not on maps perhaps because it is now considered a suburb of Milwaukee.
Hank
Security Conscious 