Business View Civil Municipal June 2023

92 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 6 AST WITH Beautiful surroundings are undeniable for Ottumwa, Iowa. Situated about 85 miles from Des Moines in the state’s southeast corner, the city is split in half by the Des Moines River, which runs 525 miles from its headwaters in southern Minnesota, through all of the Hawkeye State, and ultimately into the Mississippi River. The greater Ottumwa area was originally inhabited by several Native Peoples, including members of the Ioway, Mesquaki, and Sac tribes, but settlers moving westward began to replace those occupants in the early 1800s, and by the 1840s, Ottumwa has declared the county seat of Wapello County and began to develop as a city. B