with the Waste Land Leases in the area during the 1850s, Otautau became the hub of farming and settlement for the whole Central Western Southland District. The railway having arrived in December 1879, this added many advantages to both farmers and settlers. Early businesses One of the earliest businesses in town was the Otautau Hotel, (originally started in the old Accommodation House) which claims on its facade, to have been started in 1871. However, it seems from land records and electoral rolls, to have only been owned by Thomas and Julianna Price from 1874. After a fire, the business moved to its still current site, on the Main Street in 1875. Other early businesses were blacksmiths, the earliest one on record is also that of Daniel Lynch's, built near to the above Otautau Hotel. This was advertised as being operational from Sept 1875. Thomas Price himself built yet another Blacksmith's adjacent to his Otautau Hotel, advertised from July 1877. Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle Otautau was home to the Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle from 1905 until publication ceased in 1946. The Otautau Standard was a weekly newspaper started by Frank Hyde. In 1906 Hyde sold the newspaper to John Fisher. The Fisher family remained in charge until its closure. Otautau war memorial The Otautau war memorial is on Main Street, Otautau. It was opened by Prime Minister William Massey in 1922 and contains the names of local soldiers who died in World War I and World War II. Two canopied guns from Turkish and German forces are on either side of the memorial. Forestry Soon after World War II the New Zealand Forest Service began operating from Otautau. The planting of alien species began in 1949 and grew rapidly from the middle of the 1960s as a direct result of seasonal labour. Demographics Otautau is described as a rural settlement by Statistics New Zealand. It covers , and is part of the much larger Otautau statistical area. Otautau had a population of 753 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 51 people (7.3%) since the 2013 census, and unchanged since the 2006 census. There were 318 households. There were 405 males and 351 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.15 males per female, with 141 people (18.7%) aged under 15 years, 132 (17.5%) aged 15 to 29, 330 (43.8%) aged 30 to 64, and 150