During the Ottawa debate, Stephen A. Douglas, leader of the Democratic Party, openly accused Abraham Lincoln of forming a secret bipartisan group of Congressmen to bring about the abolition of slavery.

[5] The John Hossack House was a "station" on the Underground Railroad, and Ottawa was a major stop because of its rail, road, and river transportation.

Ottawa was the site of a famous 1859 extrication of a runaway slave named Jim Gray from a courthouse by prominent civic leaders of the time.

[8] During a citizens' meeting, a local political leader, Washington Armstrong, suggested that farmer William Reddick be elected sheriff.

[10] In 1855, while serving in the Illinois State Senate, Reddick commissioned the construction of a large Italianate house for the then-large sum of $25,000 (~$647,617 in 2023).

[11] On February 8, 1910, William Dickson Boyce, then a resident of Ottawa, incorporated the Boy Scouts of America.

[12] In 1922, the Radium Dial Company (RDC) moved from Peru, Illinois to a former high school building in Ottawa.

The company employed hundreds of women; the 2017 book Radium Girls by Kate Moore reveals that one of these employees was only 11 years of age.

Ottawa sand continues to be extracted from several quarries in the area, and is recognized in glass-making and abrasives for its uniform granularity and characteristics.

Ottawa sand is a standard testing medium in geotechnical engineering (laboratory demonstrations and research into new technologies).

The Fox River, which flows through communities like Elgin and Aurora, empties into the Illinois in downtown Ottawa.

The tavern contains the original mahogany bar built by the Sanders Bros in Ottawa, marble counters, tiled floors and walls, stained glass door and light fixtures.

It also was known for its Gilded Age brilliance — tiled mahogany bar, carved gargoyles, pressed-tin ceiling and solid oak backbar.

Zeller's initials, JCZ, are still visible in a tiled mosaic on the side of the bar and in the glass light domes that hang from the ceiling.

This is one of the oldest taverns in Illinois, with original features which remain intact and displays the architectural details prominent in the late 1800s.

The documentary interviews survivors from the industry who relate their experiences of the poisoning and the bureaucratic hurdles they met in seeking compensation and justice.

Radium City outlines the aftermath of these events with a focus on the social and political consequences as well as the medical ones.

With the looming lawsuit, Radium Dial closed in 1936, but then re-opened in 1937, under the name Luminous Processes in another part of town.

[24] The United States Department of Health and Human Services released a study,[25] outlining areas where contamination by radium-226 (Ra-226), as well as emissions of radon-222 (Rn-222), are at or above normal levels.