The Countess sternwheeler….well, partially anyway, we had to be supported by a barge traveling just behind, but that’s another story…..was scheduled to be in Ottawa, Illinois from the time we boarded and settled in our staterooms until 1 o’clock the next day. That meant the ship’s cruise Director and its shore excursions manager had both been planning hours chock full of activities, adventures, and simply quiet stay-on-the-boat plans for all of us.
American Queen Cruise lines adds buses that travel along the riverside to be ready at each point we stop, to enable guests to travel around the towns, see what they like and have the assurance they can hop off the bus wherever they stop, then hop on at scheduled times later, giving the choice of what to see or do and the time to do it to each individual passenger.
Being a New Jerseyan, and more importantly, a New Jerseyan from Highlands, seeing the memorial to the Radium Girls was a must.
Just as in Orange, NJ, there was a factory in Ottawa in the 1930s where girls were paid to paint the dials on wristwatches so the military in particular, could see the dials in the dark. The paint made the dials glow, and became a fashion fad. The girls at the factory were instructed to lick the tips of their brushes to keep the numbers neat. Nobody told them, in fact so many insisted otherwise, that the radium they were ingesting in the process was doing horrific things to their bodies, breaking their bones and eventually killing them. After long years, many court actions and finally admission, some of the girls were compensated in money but ruined for life and early deaths.
The memorial to these girls, most of them in their late teens or early 20s, sits on a corner of a busy street in Ottawa. But there is a peace around it as pedestrians walking past seem to stop and bow, or perhaps say a prayer while motorists appear to slow a bit and nod their heads.
A simple, life size monument in brown, with the single Radium Girl holding a paint brush in one hand and a dying tulip in the other, depicts the tragedy of the factories.
Why would a Highlands traveler be so interested in this? The late Rose Penta, who with her husband, the late Highlands Councilman Luke Penta, owned Clearwater Pool, a popular Route 36 swim club well known for its Bruce concert and Joe McCarthy a few years later when it was owned by another former mayor, Dick Stryker. But Rose lost not only her mother but four aunts, all of whom were Radium Girls. British author Kate Moore came to Highlands a few years ago to meet with Rose and complete her award winning book, The Radium Girls.
That visit aside, there was so much else to see, do, and learn at this little city at the confluence of the Illinois and Fox rivers. Its very name, Ottawa, means trade and barges traveling Lake Michigan to the Mississippi were common along the waterway.
Ottawa was also the site of the first debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas when the pair were vying for their step into national politics. The debate drew thousands to Washington Square in the heart of the city, and statues, memorials, and plaques telling the story of the debate are a pleasant walk through. Across the street from the park, tours through the Reddick Mansion with its period dressed docents explaining the times, the people, and the furnishings and architecture of the period are all included in the excursion, and of course a gift shop is included as well. The mansion was built in 1855 and includes 22 rooms, too much to walk through and appreciate, but a fine example of Italianate exteriors and interior pre-Civil War wealth.
But the Mansion has a fascinating history, first as one of the most ornate pre-Civil war homes in the state whose owner was on the speakers’ platform with Douglas during the debate…the Reddicks were not Lincoln fans, then serving as the town library for another 90 years as per Mr. Reddick’s will, next as a museum saved by the Reddick Mansion Association at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21 century, and to its present state when the Association just finished a 1.4 million restoration of the exterior and made the building more visitor friendly.
The town, in spite of its natural beauty, friendly people, active and unique shops and markets along its main street, seems to also hold a lot of sadness and grief. Besides the Radium factory, which was really housed in a former high school, it had also been a prime sand and glass center for more than a century. It was Ottawa sand, on board for experimental purposes, that was aboard the ill-fated Columbia space shuttle.
Lessons in history completed for the day, back on the bus to the boat and an evening filled with games, music, entertainment, food and drink, making new friends and learning about the various parts of the country from whence they came, from New Jersey to California from Florida to Minnesota.
Leaving in late afternoon, we were schedule to arrive in Peoria by 8 the following morning, for a full day of activities and events and the promise of more fascinating paces to visit.
