County Past
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Ottawa County, Michigan

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
30historic places
—earliest paper
1831formed
296,200pop. 2020
58cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 30 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1971. Most listings are in or near Holland, Grand Haven, Zeeland.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Michigan is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Ottawa titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

19 of 30 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

30 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Battle Point SiteNW Ottawa CountySite1973
Bilz, Aloys, HouseSpring LakeBuilding1987
Cappon, Isaac, HouseHollandBuilding1984
De Pree, Max and Esther, HouseZeelandBuilding2017
De Zwaan WindmillHollandSite2018
Ferry, Edward P., HouseGrand HavenBuilding1982
Fruitport Road-Pettys Bayou BridgeSpring Lake TownshipStructure1999
Gold, Egbert H., EstateHollandBuilding1984
Grand Haven Historic DistrictGrand HavenDistrict2016
Grand Rapids, Grand Haven and Muskegon Railway DepotCoopersvilleBuilding1973
Grand Trunk Western Railroad Grand Haven Coal TippleGrand HavenStructure2016
Holland Downtown Historic DistrictHollandDistrict1990
Holland Harbor LighthouseHollandBuilding1978
Holland Historic DistrictHollandDistrict1983
Holland Historic District (Boundary Increase)HollandDistrict1990
Holland Old City Hall and Fire StationHollandBuilding1985
Holland Reformed Protestant Dutch ChurchHollandBuilding1990
Hudsonville Christian SchoolHudsonvilleBuilding2008
Lakewood FarmPark TownshipDistrict2020
Morrissey, Thomas and Anna, HouseHollandBuilding1999
Olive Township District No. 1 SchoolOlive TownshipBuilding1998
Ottawa Beach Historic DistrictOttawa BeachDistrict1995
Pere Marquette Railway Locomotive #1223Grand HavenStructure2000
Piers and Revetments at Grand Haven, MichiganGrand HavenStructure1995
Robbins, Nathaniel and Esther (Savidge), HouseGrand HavenBuilding2009
Spoonville SiteCrockerySite1973
Third Reformed Church of HollandHollandBuilding1971
Van Raalte, Benjamin, HouseHollandBuilding1989
Washington Square Historic DistrictHollandDistrict2026
Zeeland Record Company BuildingZeelandBuilding2026

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Ottawa was formed in 1831 (1831-03-02) from Michilimackinac.

OTTAWA created by Michigan Territory from MICHILIMACKINAC (now MACKINAC) and Non-County Area 1 attached to CASS.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Ottawa County population from 1840 to 2020 (Census historical series).

296k148k2081840188019201930196020002020
18401860188019001920194019501960198020002020
20813,21533,12639,66747,66059,66073,75198,719157,174238,314296,200

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

58 cemeteries and 0 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 58 of 58 listed
NameLatLon
Allendale Township Cemetery42.99916-85.93611
Bauer Road Cemetery42.92194-85.85249
Beaverdam Cemetery42.84777-85.94472
Bennett Cemetery43.19375-85.84942
Big Springs Cemetery43.11986-85.84391
Blendon Cemetery42.89918-85.91087
Borculo Cemetery42.88081-86.02036
Church Cemetery42.95333-85.85055
Cobmosay Grave42.95138-86.21527
Coopersville - Polkton Cemetery43.07668-85.94115
East Drenthe Cemetery42.77474-85.93142
Eastmanville Cemetery43.01777-85.95777
Elmwood Cemetery43.00527-85.89194
Floral View Memorial Gardens42.87002-85.80336
Forest Grove Cemetery42.80426-85.87017
Georgetown Township Cemetery42.8936-85.84999
Graafschap Cemetery42.76946-86.13682
Hanley Cemetery42.85666-85.79222
Historic Cemetery42.99721-86.20313
Indian Cemetery42.94305-86.21277
Jamestown Cemetery42.81641-85.84114
Jenison Cemetery42.88984-85.80194
Lake Forest Cemetery43.0514-86.23699
Lake Shore Cemetery42.82835-86.19698
Lakeshore Cemetery43.00038-86.21525
Lakewood Cemetery42.80501-86.19948
Maple Hill Cemetery43.06764-85.89096
Maplewood Cemetery43.01113-85.90726
Marne Cemetery43.03055-85.82388
McNitt Cemetery43.16001-85.8881
New Groningen Cemetery42.79918-86.04503
Noordeloos Cemetery42.83555-86.05388
North Holland Cemetery42.81335-86.10226
Nunica Cemetery43.07658-86.0916
Old Drenthe Cemetery42.77944-85.94194
Old Vriesland Cemetery42.80527-85.95777
Olive Township Cemetery42.92831-86.07101
Ottawa Center Cemetery43.03221-86.03638
Pilgrim Home Cemetery42.78314-86.08985
Robinson Cemetery43.03381-86.056
Rosedale Memorial Park Cemetery42.96863-85.78753
Roselawn Memorial Gardens42.79529-86.06392
Rusk Cemetery42.95463-86.0121
Saint Francis Xavier Church Cemetery43.16111-85.8406
Saint Joseph's Cemetery43.11027-85.80694
Saint Mary's Cemetery43.04499-85.84444
Saint Michael's Cemetery43.08071-86.00753
Shackhuddle Cemetery42.86055-85.83333
Spring Lake Cemetery43.08055-86.17916
Star Cemetery42.79613-85.8228
Trinity Lutheran Cemetery43.13471-85.82361
Ventura Cemetery42.8551-86.19745
Vriesland Cemetery42.81918-85.9592
Wells Cemetery43.07355-85.82625
West Drenthe Cemetery42.78416-85.97499
West Olive Cemetery42.93248-86.12153
Zeeland Cemetery42.80721-86.01249
Zutphen Cemetery42.81613-85.88003

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Ottawa County, Michigan

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.