Ottoville

How Ottoville began

Ottoville takes its name from John Otto Bredeich, whose first plat of the settlement in 1845 failed; the town site was replatted successfully in 1873. A post office opened in 1880 under the name Otto and was renamed Ottoville the next year, and the village incorporated in 1890. Ottoville's Immaculate Conception Catholic Church reflects the strong German Catholic heritage typical of Putnam County's settlement pattern.

Platted 1845 (surveyed by Elias Everett, county surveyor, for John Otto Bredeick; abandoned), replatted 1873 by Charles Wannemacher, incorporated 1890, by John Otto Bredeick (spelled Bredeich on Wikipedia).

Where the name comes from

Named for John Otto Bredeick (Wikipedia spells the surname Bredeich), for whom county surveyor Elias Everett platted the original town site in the northeast corner of section 30 in 1845. That plat was abandoned, and the land was resurveyed in 1873 by Charles Wannemacher. A post office opened as 'Otto' in 1880 and was renamed Ottoville in 1881.

Before the town

No Native American site or village specific to Ottoville was located in the sources checked.

Timeline

1. 1845 — County surveyor Elias Everett plats a parcel in the northeast corner of section 30 for John Otto Bredeick; the plat is later abandoned.
2. 1863 — County surveyor Samuel Parker lays out the part of the town plot lying in section 19 for Christ Martin.
3. 1865 — F. J. Lye, with surveyor George Skinner, lays out an addition west of the canal in section 30.
4. 1873 — Charles Wannemacher resurveys the town site.
5. 1874 — Peter Wannemacher lays out an addition to Ottoville in section 25.
6. 1880 — A post office opens under the name Otto.
7. 1881 — The post office is renamed Ottoville.
8. 1883 — At the instance of Richard Gilmour, bishop of Cleveland, surveyor Aaron Overbeck resurveys the part of town in section 19.
9. 1890 — Ottoville incorporates as an Ohio village, with Joseph Wannemacher as its first mayor.
10. 1910 — The village's population is recorded at 477.
11. 1914 — Ottoville arranges to buy electric current from the Electric Light and Power Company of Delphos, wiring the town at a cost of five thousand dollars; within a year it has 101 light customers and operates 25 street lights.
12. 1978 — Ottoville's activated-sludge wastewater treatment plant becomes operational; it remains in use.
13. 1982 — Ottoville builds its water treatment plant, since upgraded twice.

Stories

A Plat That Had to Be Tried Twice

John Otto Bredeick platted his settlement in 1845, in the years just after Putnam County's swamp land had begun opening to farming, and by every account the town did not take -- the historical record offers no reason why, only the fact of the failure. Rather than abandon the site, the community tried again nearly three decades later, in 1873, with a fresh plat by Charles Wannemacher that succeeded where the first had not. In between and after, the site was carved up and re-surveyed repeatedly, as it sat awkwardly across the corners of four different sections: an 1863 survey for Christ Martin, an 1865 addition west of the town's canal, an 1874 addition, and in 1883 a resurvey undertaken at the request of Richard Gilmour, the bishop of Cleveland, whose diocese anchored the growing German Catholic parish at the town's center. The rebuilt town kept Bredeick's name in diminished form, taking a post office in 1880 under the simple name Otto before settling, a year later, on Ottoville -- and it was this second, thrice-amended attempt, not the first, that grew into an incorporated village by 1890, with Joseph Wannemacher as its first mayor.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · archive.org

Groundwater wells (3 wells) The water here

• Ottoville Village100% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Public schools (2)

Public libraries (1)

Police stations (1)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (2)

Money issues on the ballot since 2019: 3 of 3 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 2 of 2.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Financial Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-10-16

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

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