A panoramic photograph taken by J.C. Bandholtz in 1909 captured Ottawa’s south Main Street, showing the 100 block south on the left and the 200 block south on the right. The east side of the 200 block was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 for its unusual concentration of 19th century commercial buildings, though several major structures were later lost, including the Zellner Building at the northeast corner, the Rohrbaugh building in the middle of the block, and the North American Hotel coffee shop near the south end. On the northwest corner of 2nd and Main, a building first owned by town founder Isaac Kalloch housed the town’s first newspaper, the Western Home Journal, on its second floor; the site later served as the First National Bank until the 1960s and was later known as the Lawyers Bldg. Like many Midwestern downtowns, Ottawa’s buildings combined stores at street level with offices above. The Zellner Building, which also contained several photographers’ shops over the years, was destroyed after a structural failure in the 1980s and replaced by Haley Park. Old photographs also show a small portable shop, seen here on the southwest corner of 2nd and Main as Bloodgood’s Popcorn, where candy was also sold. In 1909 Ottawa was portrayed as a typical county-seat town of 7,600 people, producing soap, flour, furniture, and carriages, served by two railroads, with sturdy commercial buildings, a mix of horses and a few motorcars, and downtown businesses such as a bank, land office, barbershop, music store, and millinery. In the late 1970s, plaza-style Christmas lighting was introduced to outline the Victorian profiles of the downtown buildings, modeled after Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza.