For our birthday month, we’ve been meeting with former Ottawa Visitors Center Board members, and others, as part of our “30 Stories for 30 Years” series. We’re reflecting on three decades of tourism and considering what the future may hold. Join us, as we look back on local tourism’s evolution, some Ottawa Visitors Center history, and a special guest’s unique perspectives.

For this entry, our special guest is Executive Director Mollie Perrot of the Ottawa Historical and Scouting Heritage Museum. She was a member of the very first iteration of the OVC Board. She spoke on this time.

“Yeah, when they first got open. The Museum was just getting getting going about that time. We were looking for the tourism aspect,” Mollie said. 

“I sat on the board and they were getting it up and running. And I don’t really remember a lot of that. Tourism was relatively new. It’s kind of funny about tourism, because I found a newspaper article the other day… 1925, was about some big explosion in tourism.” 

“I didn’t know what that was about, then. It’s kind of funny about tourism as well, because in about 1938 to 1940s, it was a state legislator, and he was intent on having the Wallace Mansion up on the bluff donated, designated as a tourism spot, and he lobbied with government to purchase the house for state government,” she explained 

“They ended up, they purchased the home, and they ran it as a state museum, at a point in time with a museum, when tourism itself was really not being promoted like it is today. And they didn’t get a lot of traffic up there, plus the fact that they didn’t upkeep the house, so they ended up, they sold the house to a private firm. But it was designated as a historic tourism place for a while. So, tourism goes back at least there,” Mollie said. 

“But the big surge in tourism, Ottawa is a perfect place for it. If you’re interested in history, There’s a tremendous amount of history in this.” 

There is so much history in Ottawa, we’ve been developing as a historical tourism destination for decades! That’s one of the reasons that Ottawa is such a special town – there is such a distinct historical identity that has been created by the town’s storied past. Mollie also spoke on some work with one of our partners in tourism, Heritage Corridor’s Flock to the Rock.

“And if you would go along with them and help promote it, do something that would bring people, additionally, you could get some free advertising from them. So I developed a little program I called Five on the Fly. I got five museums to participate in it… you can pay a fee of a dollar and get a passbook, And it’s two or three days to tour Five museums,” Mollie explained.

“The whole County participates in a program that we do. We meet once every four months, And we plan items together like that.  We’ve built that program up to where this year… you could buy a pass book at any one of 13 museums and or historic homes for a dollar. You had three days to tour all, that’s tremendous for tourism. So, that’s been a good fit,” Mollie said.

Throughout this interview series, we’ve been speaking a lot about the interconnected nature of tourism. We think this is a great example! These are all of the working pieces in the tourism machine, that help us share our community. Building on this idea, we next asked Mollie what tourism, in relation to Ottawa, means to her.

“Getting people here is, is point of the thing. We’ve got so much stuff to share, and to me, that’s the thing. Sharing what we have, making people aware where they came from. How this town grew, you know. Sometimes, I think it depends on certain people, in certain places, at certain times,” she said.

“This town had all the people it needed at the particular time in history, then their talents and their enthusiasm and their exuberance was needed to progress. We became County Seat. We were a seat. We are terrific military stuff here. For the Civil War, we had a legislators here. A number of our citizens served in the state state legislature. We had two judges from this town Judge Caton and Judge T. Lyle Dickey.” 

“That’s important thing for people. A lot of people who were interested in A growing time in history. Things were kind of wide open. A number of people who were artisans, Your talent and Wear with all to this city to help it progress…” 

“Peltier’s made marbles or glass. Beautiful, stained glass that ended up in churches all over town and Their glass ended up at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Chicago. All that kind of stuff. Marbles, the marble industry, that was a kind of an entrepreneurship…” 

“There’s all this history And to share that with other people… I think that’s important.” 

Ottawa’s history is so beneficial, because there’s just so much to learn. It sets a unique backdrop for the day-to-day operations of the town, whether you’re a tourist or a local. We asked Mollie how she feels tourism has changed and evolved over the last 30 years in Ottawa.

“Well, I don’t think there was a lot of Tourism 30 years ago. That wasn’t the primary concern… Now there’s something through summer months that goes on every weekend, And they have the Music in the park on Saturday evenings. During the debate weekend the Saturday, the second I believe it is, we’re doing an old time ice cream social down in the park.” 

“We’re doing tours, that weekend of the Debate Days Reddick Mansion is doing a Victorian tea or having My friend Chris and I have made 250th anniversary quilts that tickets are being sold as soon as they come back from the Quilters. We’re going to sell raffle tickets, and then winners will be drawn,” she explained.

Mollie mentioned the variety of quilts and methods used to create them. She also spoke on the relationship between tourism and education.

“We have different kinds of all those to show people. Tourism should be something where people learn, not only come to do things, but learn things.”

As a tourism itself, has grown Substantially and exponentially. And that’s, the Visitor Center, the Heritage Corridor helps them along, it’s to the point now where Everybody wants tourism and all the towns were looking for something that they promotes tourism”

It’s clear that Ottawa stands out as a destination. We’ve seen that the rich history here is certainly one of the main draws. It’s undeniable that the amount of exciting events and iconic attractions are a huge help as well. We asked Mollie if she had a favorite of either.

“The hospital, and for a while, we did, historic home tours. And the hospital used to do it around Christmas time, and we did it in the fall. But I always thought it was interesting to go into these. 

“Of course, I love the old homes and I’m biased, have a biased opinion, to go into some of the older homes I love. Marquette has picked it up the last couple years, and they’re doing something around Christmas, but I like the old homes, Reddick Mansion.”

“I’m pleased with a group that is taken The two churches. It’s the other opposite ends of that block and that they have saved those churches, And they’re doing things with them. I chair the Historic Preservation Commission, and from that standpoint, that’s a tremendous thing for people to take on, and that’s helping to promote tours… they’re doing good stuff,” she said, referring to the Ottawa Center for the Arts. 

“People may not think the Genealogy Guild over on the south side. That’s an interesting place. They got such a great group of volunteers over there. They catalog everything, and it’s really diligent and worked hard. You not only can find out family history over there, but there’s history itself When I do when I’m doing research for lectures, or whatever, I go to the guild and you’d be surprised to think you can find out over there.” 

Ottawa truly has so much to offer, in so many ways. That’s why we’re the Middle of Everywhere. This is especially relevant when you realize just how far back our history makes us a tourism destination! As we’ve stated, events are a key aspect of this. We asked Mollie her thoughts on bringing an old one back. She also expressed another one she hopes continues to make a return.

“They keep reworking Friendship days, this year now converted it over to to Debate Days… I like the thing they’re doing with the The Victorian Haunted Halloween thing. That’s really cool, I like that,” she said.

Ottawa has been home to many beloved events throughout the year. As an ever-evolving town, who knows what exciting events and attractions may come next? Only time will tell, but we can’t wait to keep sharing our community with you. To close out our interview, we asked Mollie if she had any final thoughts on the future of Ottawa and tourism.

“I’d like to see an additional expansion to this Museum. We have a fire truck belonging to the city of Ottawa in storage, waiting for us to take. We need a bigger building, can’t get it in, and we don’t have a place to put it, once we get it in. If you have a rendering to expand this building to the west and the north to accommodate, and I need a bigger building. I’d like to see the city take an interest in promoting the museum more. This Museum’s got a tremendous potential.”

Many thanks to Mollie! Stay tuned as we keep exploring 30 years in the Middle of Everywhere. You can get updates on the rest of our blog, and on our Facebook page.