The Radium Girls were female factory workers. They contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch and clock dials with glow in the dark paint made with Radium.

The women’s jobs were to apply glow-in-the-dark paint to watch and clock hands. They were instructed to roll the brushes on their tongue to make a fine point for precise painting. It was an practice that poisoned, sickened and eventually killed many of them.

On the corner of Clinton and Jefferson streets in Ottawa, Illinois, is the former site of the Luminous Processes factory.

Today, a statue of a young woman stands in the center of a small garden. She holds a tulip in one hand. She has paintbrushes in the other. She is the symbol of the Radium Girls. They are the young women who worked in the clock and watch factories from 1918 through the end of WWII.

The statue marks a dark place in our history and commemorates the struggle of these women.  A plaque next to the statue tells the story of the women who died. It details the legal battles for restitution. It also describes the company who knew the women were in danger but looked the other way.

Laws for workers rights and safety were enacted due to the deaths and illnesses of the Radium Girls. The statue was installed and dedicated on Labor Day 2011.