Rather a thin book but covers a wonderful range of the timeline from when Ottawa, Kansas, was first thought up, founded and eventually built into the quaint city that sits on the shores of the Marais des Cygnes River. And even though historical this book is so well formatted that you will find yourself intrigued and willing to learn without thinking twice.

Ottawa, Kansas, was my hometown so I knew some of the places and knew some of the information that was within it as Kansas is one state that holds strongly to its past. But even as having grown up in the city, being surrounded by its history and knowing a few of the things that occurred (there was even a picture of my P.E. teacher) I still had bunches to learn. And this book allowed me to relate back to my own past, to my own knowledge and to tie in with the people who made my hometown what it was.

There is no actual storyline within the book but just chapters broken into different years with each part covering the highlights for those years as captions to the pictures. The pictures related the story both visually and in words while even being in grayscale they brought a charming world to life that had only been hinted at (looks like I missed the much more fun years before I was born).

Definitely enjoyed this book and am happy to have it for each person should know a bit of the history of their hometown.... ( )