Ottawa (Illinois)

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Ottawa
Nickname : Radium City, The Friendly City, The Town of Two Rivers, The Town of Stovepipe hats
Ottawa IL Downtown1.jpg
Location in Illinois
LaSalle County Illinois Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Ottawa Highlighted.svg
Basic data
Foundation : 1853
State : United States
State : Illinois
County : LaSalle County
Coordinates : 41 ° 21 ′  N , 88 ° 51 ′  W Coordinates: 41 ° 21 ′  N , 88 ° 51 ′  W
Time zone : Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 )
Residents : 18,768 (as of 2010)
Population density : 604.1 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 33.15 km 2  (approx. 13 mi 2 ) of
which 31.07 km 2  (approx. 12 mi 2 ) is land
Height : 147 m
Postal code : 61350
Area code : +1 815, 779
FIPS : 17-56926
GNIS ID : 425680
Website : www.cityofottawa.org
Mayor : Robert M. Eschbach

Ottawa is a city of 18,307 inhabitants (2000) in Illinois . It is located 115 km southwest of Chicago in their metropolitan area and is the seat of the county seat of LaSalle County .

geography

The city is located at the confluence of the Fox River with the Illinois River , across from South Ottawa on the south bank of the Illinois River.

According to the 2010 Census Bureau, Ottawa has a total area of ​​33.15 km 2 , of which 31.07 km 2 (or 93.76%) is land and 2.07 km 2 (or 6.24%) is water .

US Highway 6 and Illinois Routes 23 and 71 intersect in Ottawa. The Interstate 80 runs north of the city area.

history

La Salle Street around 1912

Ottawa was the site of the first debates between Lincoln and Douglas in 1858 . During the Ottawa debate , which was attended by 10 to 12,000 people, Stephen A. Douglas , leader of the Democratic Party , publicly accused Abraham Lincoln of forming a secret bipartisan group of congressmen for the purpose of the abolition of slavery .

The John Hossack House was a station on the Underground Railroad , for which Ottawa was a hub because of its transport links by rail, road and water. The city's citizens were active in the abolition movement. In Ottawa, in 1859, a group of prominent civil rights activists liberated Jim Gray, who was on trial, and ran away. Three of them, John Hossack, Dr. Joseph Stout and James Stout, were later indicted in Chicago for violating the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law.

Ottawa was also instrumental in the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal , which ends 15 km further west in LaSalle .

On February 8, 1910, William Dickson Boyce , then a resident of the city, founded the Boy Scouts of America here . Five years later, Boyce founded the Lone Scouts of America here, too . Boyce is buried in Ottawa Avenue Cemetery . The Ottawa Scouting Museum on Canal Street, which opened in 1997, documents the history of "boy scouting, girl scouting and campfires".

In 1922, the Radium Dial Company (RDC) moved operations from Peru , Illinois to an earlier schoolhouse in Ottawa. The company employed hundreds of young women to paint dials for watchmaker Westclox with a paint called "Luna" . The company ceased operations in 1936 after the company's president at the time had left the company two years earlier to found a competitor just a few streets away.

Demographics

Population development
Census Residents ± in%
1870 7736 -
1880 7834 1.3%
1890 9985 27.5%
1900 10,588 6%
1910 9535 -9.9%
1920 10,816 13.4%
1930 15.094 39.6%
1940 16.005 6%
1950 16,957 5.9%
1960 19,408 14.5%
1970 18,716 -3.6%
1980 18,166 -2.9%
1990 17,451 -3.9%
2000 18.307 4.9%
2010 18,768 2.5%
2016 estimate 18,289 -2.6%
US Decennial Census

At the time of the United States Census 2000, Ottawa was inhabited by 18,307 people. The population density was 964.3 people per km 2 . There were 8030 residential units, an average of 423.0 per km 2 . The population in Ottawa was 95.26% White , 1.37% Black or African American , 0.15% Native American , 0.83% Asian , 0.06% Pacific Islander , 0.93% said others Belonging to races and 1.39% named two or more races. 5.21% of the population declared to be Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The residents of Ottawa were distributed to 7,510 households out of which 31.1% had children under the age of 18. 49.4% of households were married, 11.7% had a female householder without a husband, and 34.9% were not families. 30.8% of households were made up of individuals and someone lived in 14.2% of all households aged 65 years or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.98.

The population was divided into 24.9% minors, 8.1% 18–24 year olds, 28.2% 25–44 year olds, 20.8% 45–64 year olds and 17.9% aged 65 and over or more. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 women there were 91.3 men. For every 100 women over 18, there were 87.3 men.

The median household income in Ottawa was 36,513 US dollars and the median family income reached the amount of 44,435 US dollars. The median income for men was $ 41,943 compared with $ 22,041 for women. The per capita income was $ 19,426. 11.3% of the population and 9.8% of families had an income below the poverty line , including 16.8% of minors and 7.0% of those aged 65 and over.

sons and daughters of the town

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ G001 - Geographic Identifiers - 2010 Census Summary File 1 ( English ) United States Census Bureau . Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  2. ^ First Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Ottawa, Illinois ( English ) In: Lincoln Home National Historic Site . National Park Service. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  3. ↑ List of Sites for the Underground Railroad ( English ) In: Aboard the Underground Railroad . National Park Service. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  4. ↑ The Jim Gray Case ( English ) In: John Hossack website . Jay W. Preston. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  5. ^ Ottawa Scouting Museum ( English ) In: Ottawa Scouting Museum website . Archived from the original on November 6, 2008. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  6. ↑ Population and Housing Unit Estimates ( English ) Retrieved on 27 May 2018th
  7. ^ Census of Population and Housing ( English ) Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2015.