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Ohiowa is a small village platted in 1886 as railroad infrastructure reached the site. Its name is a genuine portmanteau of "Ohio" and "Iowa," reflecting that many of its early settlers came from those two states. The village also has ties to Fillmore County's lesser-known Sorbian, or Wendish, immigrant community: Mato Kosyk, a significant Sorbian-language poet and writer born in Prussia in 1853, lived in Ohiowa and served as its pastor from 1899 to 1907. With a 2020 population of 122, Ohiowa is one of the smallest of Fillmore County's towns, though its population has held roughly stable in recent decades.
Ohiowa's straightforward, literal name tells its own settlement story, while its connection to Mato Kosyk links the village to a distinctive but often-overlooked strand of Nebraska's immigrant history. It remains a small, quiet farming community today.