Hotel Ottumwa

By 1915, what had been Otuumwa's first-class hotel, the Ballingall Hotel, was in decline and a group of local businessmen met to plan for the new development. They organized a corporation to sell shares to the local citizens. A total of 309 people bought shares, with the average investment being $500.^[2] A further $150,000 was realized by selling bonds. A banquet was held on September 4, 1917, and a grand reception and ball was held two days later to celebrate the opening of the hotel.

Over the years various businesses occupied the main floor storefronts. Bowling alleys were added in the basement in 1927. Radio station WIAS broadcast from the hotel from 1928, when it moved to Ottumwa from Burlington, Iowa, until 1934 when it went off the air. Major renovations were undertaken in 1939 and 1951.

It was purchased by the Schwartz family in 1982, when it was operating as the Parkview Plaza. They renovated it again and returned it to its historic name. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.^[1]

The hotel will close permanently on May 31, 2026.^[3]

The Neoclassical building was designed by the prominent Des Moines architectural firm of Proudfoot, Bird and Rawson. The six-story brick structure rises to a height of 71.5 feet (22 m).^[4] The reinforced concrete structure was built by the J.C. Mardis Company. The exterior of the building is covered in dark brown brick and features classical details in terra cotta. From the third to the sixth floors the building is U-shaped. It is capped with a galvanized iron cornice decorated with egg-and-dart, dentils, triglyphs and metopes, rosettes, and swags.