Ottumwa, Iowa

Ottumwa is a city in and the county seat of Wapello County, Iowa, United States. The population was 24,998 at the 2000 census. It is located in the southeastern part of Iowa, and the city is split into northern and southern halves by the Des Moines River.

History
The young town was severely damaged during the Flood of 1851.

In 1857, coal was being mined from the McCready bank, a site along Bear Creek four miles west of Ottumwa. In 1868, Brown and Godfrey opened a drift mine four miles northwest of town. By 1872, Brown and Godfrey employed 300 men and had an annual production of 77,000 tons. In 1880, the Phillips Coal and Mining Company opened a mine two miles northwest of town. In subsequent years, they opened 5 more shafts in the Phillips and Rutledge neighborhoods, just north of Ottumwa. The Phillips number 5 shaft was 140 feet deep, with a 375 horse power steam hoist. By 1889, the state mine inspector’s report listed 15 mine shafts in Ottumwa. In 1914, the Phillips Fuel Company produced over 100,000 tons of coal, ranking among the top 24 coal producers in the state.

Coal mining was so important to the local economy that, from 1890 to 1892, the Coal Palace was erected in Ottumwa as an exhibition center.

Due to the Iowa Caucuses Ottumwa is no stranger to visits by presidential hopefuls. On five occasions a sitting U.S. President has visited the Bridge City:
 * Presidential Visits
 * Benjamin Harrison was the first, in 1890, touring the Coal Palace then speaking to a crowd of over forty thousand people.
 * In 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt made a brief stop while on a train trip around America.
 * President Harry Truman spent part of his 66th birthday, May 8, 1950, in Ottumwa while on a 16-state train trip in support of his Fair Deal program.
 * In July 1971, President Richard Nixon arrived in Air Force One at the Ottumwa Industrial Airport on his way to dedicate the nearby Rathbun Lake dam and reservoir. It was a homecoming for Nixon of sorts, as he had been stationed at the Ottumwa airport while serving in the US Navy during World War Two.
 * On April 27, 2010 President Barack Obama spoke to a large crowd at the Hellyer Student Center on the campus of Indian Hills Community College. After the speech the president held an open forum question & answer session in a ‘town hall’ type format.

Geography
Ottumwa's longitude and latitude coordinates in decimal form are 41.012917, -92.414817.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 16.5 square miles (42.7 km²), of which 15.8 square miles (40.9 km²) are land and 0.7 square mile (1.7 km²) (4.07%) is water.

Northeastern Wapello County contains large deposits of coal, and there are also large deposits of clay in the region. These were very important in the industrial development of Ottumwa.

Demographics


As of the census of 2000, there were 24,998 people, 10,383 households, and 6,530 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,582.2 people per square mile (610.9/km²). There were 11,038 housing units at an average density of 698.6 per square mile (269.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 95.33% White, 1.27% African American, 0.33% Native American, 0.78% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.38% from other races, and 0.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.76% of the population.

There were 10,383 households out of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.8% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.1% were non-families. 31.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.88.

In the city the population was spread out with 22.9% under the age of 18, 10.9% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 19.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 92.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $30,174, and the median income for a family was $37,302. Males had a median income of $31,222 versus $20,934 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,040. About 10.9% of families and 15.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.3% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those age 65 or over.

Video Game Capital of the World
As the home of Twin Galaxies, Ottumwa was proclaimed the "Video Game Capital of the World" by a mayoral decree issued on November 30, 1982 by Ottumwa Mayor Jerry Parker. The city's proclamation was recognized by U.S. Senator Charles Grassley. In connection with this proclamation, the city hosted the first North American Video Olympics in the fall of 1982.

Canteen Lunch in the Alley
In central downtown the Canteen Lunch in the Alley has been a stopping point for Ottumwans since the 1920s. Many famous patrons have been seen eating a "Canteen", a loose meat sandwich similar to a Maid-Rite. In the sitcom Roseanne, Roseanne Connor’s restaurant, the Lanford Lunch Box, was based on the Canteen Lunch in the Alley.

Ottumwa in fiction and pop culture

 * Walter Eugene "Radar" O'Reilly - Corporal from M*A*S*H television series and books was from Ottumwa, Iowa. The town was mentioned in the show on several episodes.
 * The movie The Tuskegee Airmen featured the character Hannibal "Iowa" Lee Jr. (played by Laurence Fishburne), who claimed Ottumwa as his hometown.
 * The television movie The Woman Who Loved Elvis, starring Rosanne Barr (then the wife of Ottumwa native Tom Arnold) was partially filmed in Ottumwa.

Education
Ottumwa is the home of Indian Hills Community College, a two year community college. Between 1928 and 1980, it was also home to Ottumwa Heights College, a women's college that merged with Indian Hills in 1979 to create one institution. Indian Hills is located at the former Ottumwa Heights campus.
 * Higher education

Radio stations

 * AM
 * KBIZ-AM 1240
 * KLEE-AM 1480


 * FM
 * KUNZ-FM 91.1
 * KTWA 92.7
 * KIIC 96.7
 * KOTM-FM 97.7
 * KMGO 98.7
 * KKSI-FM 101.5
 * KRKN 104.3
 * KEDB 105.3

Television stations

 * KTVO 3.1 Local ABC affiliate
 * KYOU-TV 15 Local FOX affiliate (also on translator channel 25, K25DE)
 * KUMK-LP 42 Local NBC affiliate (now a TBN affiliate)
 * KTVO-DT2 3.2 Local CBS affiliate
 * K18GU 18 Translator of KIIN Iowa City, a PBS and IPTV affiliate
 * K23CI 23 Translator of KCCI Des Moines, a CBS affiliate
 * K27CV 27 Translator of WHO-TV Des Moines, an NBC affiliate

Print

 * Ottumwa Courier, the primary daily newspaper

Transportation
Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Ottumwa, operating its California Zephyr daily in both directions between Chicago, Illinois, and Emeryville, California, across the San Francisco Bay from San Francisco.

Ottumwa Transit Authority operates bus transit services throughout Ottumwa area. The fixed-route system includes four routes and a shopping shuttle. It also operates a para-transit service known as Ottumwa Transit Authority Lift andJob Access Reverse Commute (JARC), a dial-a-ride service geared towards employees.

10-15 Regional Transit Agency provides a regional dial-a-ride service throughout Appanoose, Davis, Jefferson, Keokuk, Lee, Lucas, Mahaska, Monroe, Van Buren, Wapello and Wayne counties.

Currently, U.S. Route 34 and Iowa Highway 149 serve the town, replacing a former segment of U.S. Highway 63. Route 63 now bypasses the town as part of the Burlington to Des Moines expressway.

Railroads
The BNSF Railway has tracks through Ottumwa. This is a major corridor in the Chicago-Omaha line that is double track, and western coal makes up a large percentage of the freight carried on this line. The BNSF tracks travel under U.S. Highway 34, pass through the business district, under the U.S. Highway 63 bridge, cross the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad tracks at grade, exit Ottumwa, and later cross over the Des Moines River on their way to Albia, Iowa, and later Omaha, Nebraska.

The Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railway was acquired by the Canadian Pacific in 2008. Ottumwa is located on the Davenport, Iowa, to Kansas City, Mo. line and is a crew change point.

The Norfolk Southern Railway has trackage rights over the BNSF through Ottumwa.

Notable people



 * Tom Arnold - actor
 * Chris Ash - Defensive Backs Coach of the Wisconsin Badgers football team
 * Steve Bales - Apollo 11 flight controller
 * Stephen Blumberg - notorious rare book thief
 * Walter Day - video game statistician
 * Edna Ferber - Novelist who lived in Ottumwa as a child.
 * Anne Marie Howard - actress
 * Donald Keyhoe - Marine Corps major and aviator, UFO researcher and author
 * Dan Knight - Jazz pianist, Steinway Artist, Composer. Pulitzer Prize nominee.
 * Herschel Loveless (1911–1989) 34th Governor of Iowa 1957-61, Mayor of Ottumwa 1949-53
 * Russell Means - American Indian activist. Attended junior college in Ottumwa
 * Karen Morley - actress
 * Carol Morris (1939– ) Miss Universe in 1956, actress
 * Harry Ostdiek - Major League Baseball player
 * Beverley Owen - actress
 * Jake Weimer (1873–1928) Major League Baseball player 1903-05