[1] It is located on both banks of the Marais des Cygnes River near the center of Franklin County.

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.

In 1867, the Ottawa tribe sold their remaining land in Kansas and moved to Indian Territory in Oklahoma.

[7][8] 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.

[9][10] Ottawa has a history of flooding because of its location straddling the Marais Des Cygnes river.

[12] It is unlikely 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, which is part of a larger system of flood systems to regulate the Marais Des Cygnes River to the Missouri River.

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

[citation needed] In 1943, German and Italian prisoners of World War II were brought to Kansas and other Midwest states to help solve the labor shortage caused by American men serving in the war.

Fort Riley established 12 smaller branch camps, including Ottawa.

[13][14] Ottawa straddles the Marais des Cygnes River and is located 58 miles (93 km) southwest of Kansas City at the junction of U.S. Route 59 and K-68.

U.S. Route 50 and Interstate 35 bypass Ottawa to the south and east, while business US-50 passes through the city.

The minimum temperature falls below the freezing point (32 °F) an average of 111 days per year.

[16] The 2020 United States census counted 12,625 people, 5,095 households, and 3,095 families in Ottawa.

Ottawa's two major employers are Walmart and American Eagle Outfitters who both maintain distribution centers in the city.

In 1970 voters established the City Manager form of government with a five-member Commission that annually selects a Mayor from its ranks.

KOFO airs country music from across the decades, and specializes in local news.

KCHZ 95.7 FM is licensed to Ottawa (and was, at one time, owned by KOFO); its studios are in Mission, Kansas.