Ottawa County, Ohio: History
On September 10, 1813, during the War of 1812, nine vessels of the United States Navy under Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, decisively defeated six vessels of Great Britain’s Royal Navy in the Battle of Lake Erie near Put-in-Bay. This action was one of the major battles of the war.
Ottawa County was formed on March 6, 1840, from portions of Erie, Lucas and Sandusky counties. It was named after the North American Indigenous tribe of the Odawa.
In 1974, the County Courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The county is notable in presidential politics for being a recent bellwether, having continuously voted for the winning candidate for thirteen elections from 1964 to 2016.