Drive Still Going To Honor Radium Girls

Five years after a funding drive was announced, there’s a renewed effort to raise money for a Radium Girls Memorial in Ottawa.

Mendota High School Senior Madeline Piller was joined by Mayor Bob Eschbach and other officials Tuesday announcing a new campaign to build a life-size statue depicting a “Radium Girl”.  The goal is to raise 40 thousand dollars to place a life-size statue at the corner of Jefferson and Clinton Streets which is a former site of a radium dial plant.

Piller and classmates did a state history project on the story of women who worked and died while making watch faces at the radium dial plants.  She turned her project into a play and began raising money for a permanent memorial.  She has raised 15 thousand dollars so far.

Mayor Eschbach pledged the city’s support in raising money and donating and preparing the land, along with donating signage and landscaping.  David Raikes with Local Labor Union 393 says his group will fundraise for the memorial as well.