Ottumwa City Hall

This public building was completed in 1912 as a post office, and since 1966, the Renaissance Revival style structure has served as the home of Ottumwa's City Hall. The three-story building features an ashlar limestone exterior, arched windows on the first floor, and triangular windows with pediments on the second floor. Decorative elements include a beltcourse with oval links, a cartouche above the entrance on Third Street, and circular stone panels. The main entrance was originally off of Third Street but is now on the Fourth Street side where a plaza leads to the building entrance.

The building was designed by staff architects of the U.S. Treasury Department, which was led at the time by Supervising Architect James Knox Taylor. Also known as the Federal Building, it replaced a smaller post office on the same site erected in 1890. Post office operations continued in the building until 1964. Two years later it became City Hall and remains so today. The first floor was converted to space for city government offices but the second and third floors were left largely unchanged. The interior features oak woodwork and decorative plasterwork. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

"Ottumwa’s Historic Treasures." City of Ottumwa Historic Preservation Commission. 2013. https://www.ottumwa.us/files/ottumwas_historic_treasures.pdf.

Taylor Jr., James C. "U.S. Post Office." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. August 13, 1976. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/76000810_text.