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A beautiful very well narrated video of a pleasant looking small city in a scenic setting. As is the case this channel delivers great intelligent value in a short time. With regards to the notorious company I wonder how many of the managers took home the 'harmless' fun stuff they foisted off on their employees and this community.
thanks i use to live here and i loved fishing for the sauger in that illinois river and frying them , FYI im still alive but have health problems drank the city water every day too
Not one single person noticed you wrnt the wrong way on Jackson St after visiting Washinhton Park.... I was laughing and then you got in the neighborhood up south that the roads don't lead back to the main road.... I still do that when i try to cut through there. I came back to watch this after seeing the DePue video. The whole Illinois River has toxic towns. Industrial growth was not regulated for human safety. We all are living in the dregs of it.
Thank you for sharing this! I grew up in Serena but spent all my summers in Ottawa. My grandparents and one of my aunts lived there. I lived revisiting the memories this video induced.
I retired from a group that did environmental assessments for construction projects (to protect workers from hazardous materials/conditions). I managed a project in Ottawa and had to review ALL the regulatory documents (publicly available via the Freedom of Information Act) associated with the radium issues around town as well as a little historical research of our own. There is a lot to review! I also reviewed reports for similar projects around town after I became a supervisor. A few things for your discussions on "how hazardous is the radium around town": first of all, radium is radioactive and as such is regulated at the lowest detectable level since it can cause cancer, tumors etc. Through its radioactive decay, it is a chemical AND physical shapeshifter... when it converts from its solid form to a gaseous form when it decays into radon. You can get radon from decay of natural materials in bedrock as well. Radon is similarly radioactive and can dissolve into groundwater, accumulate in poorly ventilated areas like basements, and travel in the unsaturated portion of the soil as soil-gas. Yes, it was tragically bad judgement for these young women to paint their teeth, nails, and/or eyelids to impress their friends, families, and beau's. It absorbed into their bodies, being assimilated into their bone structure. After some of them slowly died (horribly), their bodies were still dangerously radioactive (and would remain so for many years). They also took paint-leftovers home and painted star-scapes on bedroom ceilings... (and now have been painted-over) so buying an old house in Ottawa from this period has its added potential risks. The buildings where they conducted their painting activities collected-up painted wood scraps, rags used to wipe-up the excess/spilled paint, old paintbrushes and incinerated them in their boiler-rooms. Doing this greatly concentrated the radioactivity in the ash. They would then take this dangerous ash waste, as they did not know any better, and spread it on sidewalks and drives in the winter as it melted snow and ice really well. Waste-not want-not and all that. You know how they learned they had previously unknown sites of radiation hazards around town? The US Dept. of Energy was flying "background" radiation studies from helicopters in the 1980s and found many "hot spots" around town which were later confirmed on the ground. When you can find hazards from aerial surveys... there is a message there. Like back in the days of the dial painters... folks tend to underestimate the risks around radiation. True, it is not a guarantee of agony in low doses, -but it can be. What is it worth to roll those dice? I like Ottawa, full of history, very friendly folks, -as you can see from this video, so beautiful in many ways. Remember, we cannot eliminate risk in our lives (even chemical exposure risks), you manage your risks at best. It is important to know the facts and educate yourself. Ottawa was not the only town in northern Illinois to have run-ins with radioactive materials during their pasts. There are many types of other hazards out there too. It can be easy to over-react. Then again... The fellow who owned the Radium Dial company (Joseph Kelly) had moved his company from New Jersey, where I think it was the Essex Co. Coroner (yes) shut down his operation after a handful of horrible deaths and associated lawsuits. He just moved his operations to Ottawa in response. His foreman still advised young women to dip their paint brushes into their mouths as they worked. Nice guys eh? After many more years of operation in Ottawa, do you think his company was he forced to close his doors? - No he just renamed the operation to Luminous Processes (I am sure to legally protect his ass-ets). When operations ended in Ottawa (finally) in 1978, What do you think the company did? Yep, they moved their plant yet again. (hey, this strategy had been working for them) -down to Athens, GA. Not over yet. The plant in Georgia eventually went into bankruptcy, closed, and was entered into the Superfund Program of contaminated abandoned properties. This is where contaminated properties go when there is nobody left to sue to pay for lawsuits/cleanups. We ALL get to help with our tax dollars. He left quite the trail of devastating effects. This is why we need a federal oversight/national-level EPA and OSHA as well as freely accessible information. Never assume folks use intelligent, responsible behaviors.
Damn. I just drove through there & was seriously considering moving there because, it really is a lovely & lively river town. Keep forgetting how many lovely little river towns are covered in toxic sludge from the industrial revolution.. All that so called 'progress' ruined for everyone down the line.
I was born and raised in Ottawa. You just passed my childhood home on Adams Street. My husband and I moved to Wisconsin and raised our son in Grafton WI about 20 miles north of Milwaukee. Ottawa was a great small town to grow up in.The downtown was filled with many recognizable named stores and locally owned businesses and thrived until late 70s early 80s. Everything started falling apart when several factories in the area started closing. I never heard of the Radium girls until the book was written. We moved back from 2004 to 2014. A big difference from when we moved away. I'm back in Wisconsin now and it has gone through some big changes also. A sign of our times!
I live in the west suburbs of Chicago. Past couple of years, we do a family mini-vacation to Ottawa in the spring/summer. It's great for a long weekend; very close to Starved Rock and Matheissen State Parks, a nice downtown to walk through with some good shops and places to eat/drink. There are still a few things on our list to see there next year that we haven't gotten to just yet. There are definitely a few neighborhoods that are not as nice as others, but even there you don't get a "danger" vibe. It's a nice place for a short visit.
My wife and I love visiting Ottawa and the Illinois Valley! Great video! One small thing…the Walmart distribution center is in neighboring Bureau County in Spring Valley.
How many people from here were killed by radiation?? When the clock dial factory was finally torn down its radioactive bricks were simply dumped in piles. People then retrieved the dangerous bricks to use in their building projects. Some of the Women who died there were buried in special caskets that had viewing ports to allow for the scientific observations of the effects of radiation on decomposition. The more you know about this area the better it gets! That nice little bungalow you have your eye on may have a dethatched garage or brick Bar BQ that will send a Geiger counter into the red zone! You've been warned!
I’ve lived in Ottawa my whole life and As I’m sure most teenagers in small town America I plan on seeing what the rest of the country has to offer, great video btw it’s a bit weird seeing a walkthrough of my hometown there’s a lot of cool spots around town you should try talking to the locals in these videos I think it would be a good addition
Ottawa is a nice town. Has a lot of great small businesses/restaurants. Ask a local what their favorite pizza place is.. mine is Bianchi's. Don't come at me!!
Thanks for this video tour , It's been 40 years since I last been there, My Aunt worked at Radium dial and many died including her after battling cancer for decades; due to a bad habit of spinning the paint brush tip in their mount to get a fine point to apply the radium to the clock face numbers and clock hands. The town sure has changed since the early 80's.
Watching this and knowing EXACTLY where he is at any given time just based off of the houses and land marks. Love this. Would you consider doing something on my home town of Marseilles? I know it’s a small little town but it’d be pretty neat.
This is my home town. Born and raised here in the 80s and 90s. I loved how you drove through my old neighborhood on the south side. On the side of town where the high school was at if you want into those neighborhoods you would have found a lot of nice historical homes and cobblestone streets. The west side has always been a blue collar type of area. Marquette St has always bern an ugly street. Thank you for doing this.
Interesting video and fast overview of Ottawa, a town that has been greatly enhanced in the past two decades. Wish that the route of drive would have been more carefully planned out as the historic homes on Ottawa Ave, Prospect Ave, and the East Side were not shown. There are interesting features such as the murals gracing downtown buildings, gardened main streets, antique district, magnificent churches that draw visitors every year. It would have been helpful to have checked with the Ottawa tourist facility before.
Southern Illinois is so pretty, go visit it sometime. Growing up we always went to Starved Rock. I didn't know Shawnee Forest existed till like ten years ago. Been back 4 times now.
One thing you missed is W.D. Boyce the founder of Boy Scouts in America is buried in Ottawa. My mothers family is from Ottawa, spent part of my summers there. I have been to the Roxy theater many times.
I haven't been back to my birthplace in a long time, seeing this video takes me back. One of my first reactions was "Holy crap KennMotors is still there?!"
Thank you for the video, I look forward to all your videos. I've been to Ottawa and in my opinion it's a nice looking town. The only reason I've ruled out living there in the pass is the radium contamination. I look forward to a Streator video if you have one. You do an excellent job on these videos.
@@dcforte123 All but 1 of the potential sites have been cleaned up, with the last one being cleaned atm, but anything dangerous to health has been taken care of for a long time now, the radium is functionally non-existent
@@dcforte123 No he really overplayed it. The Radium sites were almost never used for anything and the ones actually used daily were never a health risk because you have to eat radium for it to even hurt you. The only risk would be water contamination but thats literally never happened.
I lived on Ottawa most of my life but to not mention that WD Boyce was from here and he started Boys Scouts when you are driving on Boyce Memorial Drive and is buried here and they have a museum dedicated to Boy Scouts. Also, no mention of the Appellate Court that you drove by.
It is sad the historic parts you missed. This was a cool video however. You missed the historic east side by turning away from the high school, or Ottawa avenue. They are by far the most significant and beautiful places in my humble little city.
Nice alternative if you want to live outside Chicagoland but property taxes are way to high. Most go to Wisconsin. Starved Rock State park is a must go
I was told by a realtor in 2020 that Ottawa has the lowest property taxes in the county(& she Wasn't trying to sell me a house there so I don't think it was a lie).
Worked there from 1970-1974 at Norem Buick on Columbus Avenue. Lived on East Main street just passed the High School. Nice town, good people, wish I could go back in time.
@@ChrisHarden Also, I did some looking into the Radium contamination, and it appears that all but one of the sixteen original sites has been cleaned up, with the last one underway as of 2019. The status of that I am unsure. However, the EPA has been involved in this for over 30 years, and anything that could be potentially hazardous to the general public has long since been mitigated. Therefore, the increased risk of Radium poisoning seems, at this point, unconsequential. See what I know now after watching your video? Like the content.
@@cmpregmon They've been working on that since at least last year it was the site of the track field of my elementary school. It wasn't dangerous whatsoever to be on its more just a risk of it leaking into any water source.
I’d love to get one. There’s one that I’ve looked at that shoots in 8K. From an editing standpoint I feel like it would be a nightmare and I’m not sure how I could add street names or other touches. I also feel like I’d only be able to do short 15 minute videos with one of those since the file size of 360 videos are so big, but I’ve never messed with one of those yet so maybe that’s all paranoia.
@@ChrisHarden Yea. It's a different beast for sure. I believe the go pro hero max has GPS in it so you could overlay the GPS logs on a map to show location. Might be too small though.
@@discob61350 That’s supposed to be a GoPro feature for all of their cameras, but the GoPro editing software for the desktop doesn’t work anymore as GoPro stopped doing updates for it. Video files can only be 5 minutes long on the GoPro, and if I were to do gps overlays, or speed overlays, or any other overlay, I would have to do that on my phone for each 5 minute file and then send those to my desktop via email. Unless there’s another way but I doubt it.
Very surprised to find a video like this about Ottawa. It's a shame you missed a lot of beautiful older Victorian homes along the riverfronts. If I may make a suggestion for the future is to maybe get a local's perspective on details that might not be quite evident. Thank you for the service you are providing.
Moved here about 5 months ago, it's okay, I come from a little more of northern Illinois, so adjusting to a smaller town is a downside, but a lot more quiet and peaceful, passed by where I live right of the bat
A more substantial downtown than the other small towns. They landscaped it nicely. Makes a huge difference in appearance. Without looking at the crime stats, I would think it is very low. How are the stats on the actual radium health effects? Is the cancer rate higher here? Is the average life expectancy lower or the same as other towns in this valley area? Does the radium sites seep into the water supply? Does it go away over time?
I’m no expert, but it seems hard to measure. From what I read, there are no studies that exist that show the long term effects from being exposed to low rates of radium for a long period of time. Exposure can happen as easily as children playing in a field where the soil of that field is contaminated with radium. It looks like the cancer rates in LaSalle County are slightly higher than the average rural Illinois county (506 for every 100,000), and the life expectancy rates in LaSalle county are within the lower 3rd of the state (77.1).
All but 1 of the potential sites have been cleaned up, with the last one being cleaned, but anything dangerous to health has been taken care of for a long time now, the radium if functionally non-existent and while I love the content he makes it seem as though ottawa is deadly
In regards to the water, it's not an issue for Ottawa. There is naturally a lot of radon in the area. Not radium from the factories, that's almost all cleaned up now. The most cost effective way to remove radon from water on a utility scale is using reverse osmosis. So Ottawa, IL has very high quality tap water.
If you're worried about radium or radon contamination, get a Geiger counter and don't move anywhere where you get too high of a reading. The nice thing about radioactive contamination is that it's easily detectable! Ottawa has to comply with federal drinking water standards, and if you're worried you can filter your water at home too using any number of great techniques. Many other types of toxic contamination are way harder to detect and avoid than radioactive contamination.
You should travel to the Northeast and visit the Tri-State area of Downstate NY, Northern NJ, and Western Connecticut. You can do videos like this of Stamford CT, New Rochelle NY, Newark NJ, 5 Boroughs of NYC, Jersey City NJ, Long Beach NY, Hempstead NY, etc. There are lots of interesting places around here you can visit.
I grew up here as a kid and im black so you can imagine the racism we was dealing with and that's crazy there's all this history about helping slaves there but it also go deep racist roots
Holy cow, I remember being at the Walmart the day of the grand opening in the 80s. It was out there near a Kroger, Value City, Dunkin Donuts....I lived in Ottawa for a bit, but grew up in Grand Ridge. Going to Walmart was exciting lol...we were closer to Kmart, Eagle Foods, Spurgeon, and a Domino Pizza. Thank you for the trip down memory lane.
You mean the private one people had to be pretty well off to attend? Idk about better had a few friends that ended up being junkies and going to jail that went there because it was "better" turns out thats just where the better more expensive drugs were.
Maybe I missed it, but did you mention that this is pretty much the home of the founder of the Boy Scouts of America? There’s a museum that I’ve never made it to.
I have been raised in Ottawa my whole life, and since I am not old enough to leave I am still here. This town is nice to visit, but a visit is all you need I feel. Just like there is toxic waste, there are a lot of toxic people in this town. Especially when you go to the schools. In summary: a visit to Ottawa for a day or for a little bit is nice. But living here is absolute torture. One thing is for sure tho, I’m getting out of this place one way or another.
Hi , I live in suburb Marionette Park and the rent here is outrageous I was just wondering how much is the rent down there and it's the cost of living cheaper because I live right off from Chicago in a small suburb.
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Thinking of buying a house there. Could you possibly list the flood areas? Thanks.
A beautiful very well narrated video of a pleasant looking small city in a scenic setting. As is the case this channel delivers great intelligent value in a short time. With regards to the notorious company I wonder how many of the managers took home the 'harmless' fun stuff they foisted off on their employees and this community.
thanks i use to live here and i loved fishing for the sauger in that illinois river and frying them , FYI im still alive but have health problems drank the city water every day too
LOVE YOUR WORK!!
I'd like to give you a shoutout from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada!
Great video series but the soundtrack is too loud
Thank you. This video is older, I’ve learned a lot since.
Not one single person noticed you wrnt the wrong way on Jackson St after visiting Washinhton Park.... I was laughing and then you got in the neighborhood up south that the roads don't lead back to the main road.... I still do that when i try to cut through there. I came back to watch this after seeing the DePue video. The whole Illinois River has toxic towns. Industrial growth was not regulated for human safety. We all are living in the dregs of it.
It's really nice to watch your videos and see all these places that none of us can afford to drive to anymore. Thanks!
Thank you for sharing this! I grew up in Serena but spent all my summers in Ottawa. My grandparents and one of my aunts lived there. I lived revisiting the memories this video induced.
Haven't been in Ottawa for fifty years. Looks like the old steel bridge was demolished and replaced
11:10 - Adams & Glover. My house is like 100 ft. from that intersection.
I retired from a group that did environmental assessments for construction projects (to protect workers from hazardous materials/conditions). I managed a project in Ottawa and had to review ALL the regulatory documents (publicly available via the Freedom of Information Act) associated with the radium issues around town as well as a little historical research of our own. There is a lot to review! I also reviewed reports for similar projects around town after I became a supervisor. A few things for your discussions on "how hazardous is the radium around town": first of all, radium is radioactive and as such is regulated at the lowest detectable level since it can cause cancer, tumors etc. Through its radioactive decay, it is a chemical AND physical shapeshifter... when it converts from its solid form to a gaseous form when it decays into radon. You can get radon from decay of natural materials in bedrock as well. Radon is similarly radioactive and can dissolve into groundwater, accumulate in poorly ventilated areas like basements, and travel in the unsaturated portion of the soil as soil-gas. Yes, it was tragically bad judgement for these young women to paint their teeth, nails, and/or eyelids to impress their friends, families, and beau's. It absorbed into their bodies, being assimilated into their bone structure. After some of them slowly died (horribly), their bodies were still dangerously radioactive (and would remain so for many years). They also took paint-leftovers home and painted star-scapes on bedroom ceilings... (and now have been painted-over) so buying an old house in Ottawa from this period has its added potential risks. The buildings where they conducted their painting activities collected-up painted wood scraps, rags used to wipe-up the excess/spilled paint, old paintbrushes and incinerated them in their boiler-rooms. Doing this greatly concentrated the radioactivity in the ash. They would then take this dangerous ash waste, as they did not know any better, and spread it on sidewalks and drives in the winter as it melted snow and ice really well. Waste-not want-not and all that. You know how they learned they had previously unknown sites of radiation hazards around town? The US Dept. of Energy was flying "background" radiation studies from helicopters in the 1980s and found many "hot spots" around town which were later confirmed on the ground. When you can find hazards from aerial surveys... there is a message there. Like back in the days of the dial painters... folks tend to underestimate the risks around radiation. True, it is not a guarantee of agony in low doses, -but it can be. What is it worth to roll those dice? I like Ottawa, full of history, very friendly folks, -as you can see from this video, so beautiful in many ways. Remember, we cannot eliminate risk in our lives (even chemical exposure risks), you manage your risks at best. It is important to know the facts and educate yourself. Ottawa was not the only town in northern Illinois to have run-ins with radioactive materials during their pasts. There are many types of other hazards out there too. It can be easy to over-react. Then again...
The fellow who owned the Radium Dial company (Joseph Kelly) had moved his company from New Jersey, where I think it was the Essex Co. Coroner (yes) shut down his operation after a handful of horrible deaths and associated lawsuits. He just moved his operations to Ottawa in response. His foreman still advised young women to dip their paint brushes into their mouths as they worked. Nice guys eh? After many more years of operation in Ottawa, do you think his company was he forced to close his doors? - No he just renamed the operation to Luminous Processes (I am sure to legally protect his ass-ets). When operations ended in Ottawa (finally) in 1978, What do you think the company did? Yep, they moved their plant yet again. (hey, this strategy had been working for them) -down to Athens, GA. Not over yet. The plant in Georgia eventually went into bankruptcy, closed, and was entered into the Superfund Program of contaminated abandoned properties. This is where contaminated properties go when there is nobody left to sue to pay for lawsuits/cleanups. We ALL get to help with our tax dollars. He left quite the trail of devastating effects. This is why we need a federal oversight/national-level EPA and OSHA as well as freely accessible information. Never assume folks use intelligent, responsible behaviors.
Damn. I just drove through there & was seriously considering moving there because, it really is a lovely & lively river town.
Keep forgetting how many lovely little river towns are covered in toxic sludge from the industrial revolution.. All that so called 'progress' ruined for everyone down the line.
Known for the Radium girls and Radium Dial company, which is both a fascinating and tragic story and was a major contributor to the formation of OSHA.
Awesome to see a video of my town! Very cool, great job 🤘🏽
I may have misunderstood what toxic meant
I'm not getting that part either.? I mean it definitely is toxic here born and raised still here.
2:30 I live on the left...
17:25 i work on the right. Marquette Steel Supply & Fabrication
you can see my uncle throw something away. lol
The town is absolutely toxic.
I was born and raised in Ottawa. You just passed my childhood home on Adams Street. My husband and I moved to Wisconsin and raised our son in Grafton WI about 20 miles north of Milwaukee. Ottawa was a great small town to grow up in.The downtown was filled with many recognizable named stores and locally owned businesses and thrived until late 70s early 80s. Everything started falling apart when several factories in the area started closing. I never heard of the Radium girls until the book was written.
We moved back from 2004 to 2014. A big difference from when we moved away. I'm back in Wisconsin now and it has gone through some big changes also. A sign of our times!
I live in the west suburbs of Chicago. Past couple of years, we do a family mini-vacation to Ottawa in the spring/summer. It's great for a long weekend; very close to Starved Rock and Matheissen State Parks, a nice downtown to walk through with some good shops and places to eat/drink. There are still a few things on our list to see there next year that we haven't gotten to just yet. There are definitely a few neighborhoods that are not as nice as others, but even there you don't get a "danger" vibe. It's a nice place for a short visit.
My wife and I love visiting Ottawa and the Illinois Valley! Great video! One small thing…the Walmart distribution center is in neighboring Bureau County in Spring Valley.
Haven't been to the Roxy since 2013ish but I remember the tickets being 3 dollars 50 cents for a matinee showing.
How many people from here were killed by radiation?? When the clock dial factory was finally torn down its radioactive bricks were simply dumped in piles. People then retrieved the dangerous bricks to use in their building projects. Some of the Women who died there were buried in special caskets that had viewing ports to allow for the scientific observations of the effects of radiation on decomposition. The more you know about this area the better it gets! That nice little bungalow you have your eye on may have a dethatched garage or brick Bar BQ that will send a Geiger counter into the red zone! You've been warned!
Thinking about buying a house there. Where are the flood zones? Thanks.
I sure do love the silver slipper saloon
Oh I’m sure you do.
Waukegan IL has a super fund site on Lake Michigan
Waukegan is a toiletbowl.
You should check out Aurora and Oswego in the future. They’re quite fascinating!
Agreed and Downers Grove.
Where I live
The heavy landscaping on those historic downtown streets makes a big difference.
I’ve lived in Ottawa my whole life and As I’m sure most teenagers in small town America I plan on seeing what the rest of the country has to offer, great video btw it’s a bit weird seeing a walkthrough of my hometown there’s a lot of cool spots around town you should try talking to the locals in these videos I think it would be a good addition
Been through the area many times , would love to see more of Dekalb county ( Sandwich , Lake Holiday ) Great video 👋🏼😘
Ottawa is a nice town. Has a lot of great small businesses/restaurants. Ask a local what their favorite pizza place is.. mine is Bianchi's. Don't come at me!!
I remember driving through about 20 years ago and thinking it was a nice place, and great river views.
mines sams
Bianchi’s is where it’s at
@@lyricengelbrecht8377 Near Lasalle street near the bridge
No it is R grottos my family gets it every pizza night
That's my town. Lived there for a number of years and still do.
Thanks for this video tour , It's been 40 years since I last been there, My Aunt worked at Radium dial and many died including her after battling cancer for decades; due to a bad habit of spinning the paint brush tip in their mount to get a fine point to apply the radium to the clock face numbers and clock hands. The town sure has changed since the early 80's.
Walking down town and getting Jeremiah joes coffee with friends is always fun 🥺
One of my favorite memories is going to the blockbuster in Ottawa Illinois. And I also live there for the majority of my life
Watching this and knowing EXACTLY where he is at any given time just based off of the houses and land marks. Love this. Would you consider doing something on my home town of Marseilles? I know it’s a small little town but it’d be pretty neat.
I plan on coming back to make a video of Marseilles and several other towns that I haven’t been to yet. Can’t tell you when that will be though
This is my home town. Born and raised here in the 80s and 90s. I loved how you drove through my old neighborhood on the south side. On the side of town where the high school was at if you want into those neighborhoods you would have found a lot of nice historical homes and cobblestone streets. The west side has always been a blue collar type of area. Marquette St has always bern an ugly street. Thank you for doing this.
i live there! its okay but theres a ton of toxic people around the town
You’re the second one to say that. Interesting.
Bet there are more toxic people in Kankakee! What a place.
Interesting video and fast overview of Ottawa, a town that has been greatly enhanced in the past two decades. Wish that the route of drive would have been more carefully planned out as the historic homes on Ottawa Ave, Prospect Ave, and the East Side were not shown. There are interesting features such as the murals gracing downtown buildings, gardened main streets, antique district, magnificent churches that draw visitors every year. It would have been helpful to have checked with the Ottawa tourist facility before.
I’m the video Shell is at $2.16. Same shell is now $3.24, 2 months later.
Gas was low during the government shutdowns for the pandemic.
There is a State park in southern Illinois called Shawnee National Forest, it looks beautiful in the pictures!
Southern Illinois is so pretty, go visit it sometime. Growing up we always went to Starved Rock. I didn't know Shawnee Forest existed till like ten years ago. Been back 4 times now.
The Gem of the Illinois valley. Wish there was a little more development as the gateway to Starved Rock. Great video.
You were also about 3 blocks away from the burial site of William D. Boyce, the founder of the boy scouts.
One thing you missed is W.D. Boyce the founder of Boy Scouts in America is buried in Ottawa. My mothers family is from Ottawa, spent part of my summers there. I have been to the Roxy theater many times.
I am born and raised in Ottawa il and I still live in Ottawa 💯
Thinking of moving there. Where would the flood zones be? Thanks.
Thank you for your very relaxing video; it is nice to experince an unhurried auto tour of a bucolic town like Ottawa, IL
Show the lamp liter
The Slipper too!
They couldn't get in the parking lot without getting herpes, c'mon man.
Lmao
I haven't been back to my birthplace in a long time, seeing this video takes me back. One of my first reactions was "Holy crap KennMotors is still there?!"
Thank you for the video, I look forward to all your videos. I've been to Ottawa and in my opinion it's a nice looking town. The only reason I've ruled out living there in the pass is the radium contamination. I look forward to a Streator video if you have one. You do an excellent job on these videos.
Thanks! I haven't been to Streator yet, but I'll get a Streator video up eventually.
I live outside of Ottawa is there bad radium there??
@@dcforte123 All but 1 of the potential sites have been cleaned up, with the last one being cleaned atm, but anything dangerous to health has been taken care of for a long time now, the radium is functionally non-existent
@@dcforte123 No he really overplayed it. The Radium sites were almost never used for anything and the ones actually used daily were never a health risk because you have to eat radium for it to even hurt you. The only risk would be water contamination but thats literally never happened.
Just moved to ottawa a few months ago. I like this place tbh
I lived on Ottawa most of my life but to not mention that WD Boyce was from here and he started Boys Scouts when you are driving on Boyce Memorial Drive and is buried here and they have a museum dedicated to Boy Scouts.
Also, no mention of the Appellate Court that you drove by.
Nice video, but why is the narration so robotic?
Because I programmed a robot that does all of the research and voice overs. It’s easier to make these videos that way. Less burn out.
It is sad the historic parts you missed. This was a cool video however. You missed the historic east side by turning away from the high school, or Ottawa avenue. They are by far the most significant and beautiful places in my humble little city.
Was born and raised there and got out as soon as I could. Ottawa is a great place to be from; as from it as one can get.
Nice alternative if you want to live outside Chicagoland but property taxes are way to high. Most go to Wisconsin. Starved Rock State park is a must go
Starved Rock and Buffalo Rock both look like cool places.
I was told by a realtor in 2020 that Ottawa has the lowest property taxes in the county(& she Wasn't trying to sell me a house there so I don't think it was a lie).
Wisconsin is not the place to go for lower property taxes. That would be Indiana, or even Michigan. Wisconsin taxes are almost as high as Illinois.
Worked there from 1970-1974 at Norem Buick on Columbus Avenue. Lived on East Main street just passed the High School. Nice town, good people, wish I could go back in time.
Hopefully you check out Freeport, IL. The site of the 2nd Lincoln Douglas debates.
🥨
Streator isn’t much. If I’m not mistaken it has the highest amount of bars to people in lasalle county
Heyyyy i live there 0-0 its so weird seeing your own town on a map
Jc Whitney nor Kohl’s is in Ottawa they are both in Peru which is near by
I live in the city of Ottawa so I figured I would give it a watch and see what was accurate or not
Kohls distribution is in Ottawa on the very north end out just north of farm and fleet
I live in Iowa but I didn't know it was toxic
Ottawa now has a legal dealer in town ,it's good weed but they charge to much in taxes
It's illinois
When you are near the corner of Glover and Adams streets, you can see evidence of the EF-3 tornado that went through the south side of Ottawa in 2017.
Dang. EF-3’s are no joke.
@@ChrisHarden Also, I did some looking into the Radium contamination, and it appears that all but one of the sixteen original sites has been cleaned up, with the last one underway as of 2019. The status of that I am unsure. However, the EPA has been involved in this for over 30 years, and anything that could be potentially hazardous to the general public has long since been mitigated. Therefore, the increased risk of Radium poisoning seems, at this point, unconsequential. See what I know now after watching your video? Like the content.
@@cmpregmon They've been working on that since at least last year it was the site of the track field of my elementary school. It wasn't dangerous whatsoever to be on its more just a risk of it leaking into any water source.
i live in Morris, 20 miles east of Ottawa. Good video. Ottawa is kind of a run down out of touch city. But a good place to live
Kettle meet black wanna say ottawa is run down and out of touch when your from Morris
Born and raised.. It’s really not run down. It had gone through a transformation since I left there. Not sure what you mean by out of touch
The downtown is so much better than it was 30 years ago.
lived in Illinois for years and never made it to Ottawa, thanks for the drive through. Beautiful city, too bad about the radiation though.
you should start using a 360 video camera
I’d love to get one. There’s one that I’ve looked at that shoots in 8K.
From an editing standpoint I feel like it would be a nightmare and I’m not sure how I could add street names or other touches. I also feel like I’d only be able to do short 15 minute videos with one of those since the file size of 360 videos are so big, but I’ve never messed with one of those yet so maybe that’s all paranoia.
@@ChrisHarden Yea. It's a different beast for sure. I believe the go pro hero max has GPS in it so you could overlay the GPS logs on a map to show location. Might be too small though.
@@discob61350 That’s supposed to be a GoPro feature for all of their cameras, but the GoPro editing software for the desktop doesn’t work anymore as GoPro stopped doing updates for it. Video files can only be 5 minutes long on the GoPro, and if I were to do gps overlays, or speed overlays, or any other overlay, I would have to do that on my phone for each 5 minute file and then send those to my desktop via email. Unless there’s another way but I doubt it.
@@ChrisHarden Yikes! That sounds like a terrible work flow.
I live here
My home town. Good old O-town.
Very surprised to find a video like this about Ottawa. It's a shame you missed a lot of beautiful older Victorian homes along the riverfronts. If I may make a suggestion for the future is to maybe get a local's perspective on details that might not be quite evident. Thank you for the service you are providing.
This is true; he missed the gorgeous east side as well as Ottawa Ave. but still a good video.
There's a lot he never seems to get into in his videos.
This video was made way longer than two months ago lol. Looks a lot nicer in this video
I love were I live but these nothing do do in ottawa
Moved here about 5 months ago, it's okay, I come from a little more of northern Illinois, so adjusting to a smaller town is a downside, but a lot more quiet and peaceful, passed by where I live right of the bat
My town is not toxic whatsoever. It has never been toxic really. It's a beautiful place when you live there for a few years
I have an art show up in Ottawa right now at open space art gallery. If you get a chance check it out. Do Varna, Illinois next. ;)
Nice tour. I almost moved there two months ago and ended up 15 minutes north of Ottawa.
That was my town too went to Ottawa high school, teo of my cousins had brain cancer from buried radium, one god rest her passed away.
I am a little disappointed the Dr. Pepper bottling company didn't get a shout out.
A more substantial downtown than the other small towns. They landscaped it nicely. Makes a huge difference in appearance. Without looking at the crime stats, I would think it is very low. How are the stats on the actual radium health effects? Is the cancer rate higher here? Is the average life expectancy lower or the same as other towns in this valley area? Does the radium sites seep into the water supply? Does it go away over time?
I’m no expert, but it seems hard to measure.
From what I read, there are no studies that exist that show the long term effects from being exposed to low rates of radium for a long period of time.
Exposure can happen as easily as children playing in a field where the soil of that field is contaminated with radium.
It looks like the cancer rates in LaSalle County are slightly higher than the average rural Illinois county (506 for every 100,000), and the life expectancy rates in LaSalle county are within the lower 3rd of the state (77.1).
All but 1 of the potential sites have been cleaned up, with the last one being cleaned, but anything dangerous to health has been taken care of for a long time now, the radium if functionally non-existent and while I love the content he makes it seem as though ottawa is deadly
In regards to the water, it's not an issue for Ottawa. There is naturally a lot of radon in the area. Not radium from the factories, that's almost all cleaned up now. The most cost effective way to remove radon from water on a utility scale is using reverse osmosis. So Ottawa, IL has very high quality tap water.
If you're worried about radium or radon contamination, get a Geiger counter and don't move anywhere where you get too high of a reading. The nice thing about radioactive contamination is that it's easily detectable! Ottawa has to comply with federal drinking water standards, and if you're worried you can filter your water at home too using any number of great techniques. Many other types of toxic contamination are way harder to detect and avoid than radioactive contamination.
You should travel to the Northeast and visit the Tri-State area of Downstate NY, Northern NJ, and Western Connecticut. You can do videos like this of Stamford CT, New Rochelle NY, Newark NJ, 5 Boroughs of NYC, Jersey City NJ, Long Beach NY, Hempstead NY, etc. There are lots of interesting places around here you can visit.
One day I’ll be able to!
I was born and raised in Ottawa left when I was 20 my whole family is still there
we have a couple of old time friends who live in Ottawa, been to starved rock many times
I grew up here as a kid and im black so you can imagine the racism we was dealing with and that's crazy there's all this history about helping slaves there but it also go deep racist roots
THIS IS WHAT YOU GET WHEN INCOMPETENT PEOPLE GET TO ""SOCIAL MEDIA""
I would love for you to visit wenona and rutland il. I did live there
I’m from Streator but live in Ottawa right now!
Why aren't you not showing all the crack houses
Seeing this video made me miss home
My husbands Aunt and Uncle owned Major Jewelry store .
When did Walmart close down? I haven’t been there in almost 2 years.
It moved across the interstate into a supercenter in 2006. The old walmart is now a home outlet store.
Holy cow, I remember being at the Walmart the day of the grand opening in the 80s. It was out there near a Kroger, Value City, Dunkin Donuts....I lived in Ottawa for a bit, but grew up in Grand Ridge. Going to Walmart was exciting lol...we were closer to Kmart, Eagle Foods, Spurgeon, and a Domino Pizza. Thank you for the trip down memory lane.
It was also a grade school for a short time while they relocated central school to the south side right behind shepherd school.
You missed Ottawa Avenue, the prettiest street in town.
You are mistaken sir. The prettiest streets in ottawa are the few tucked up behind ottawa ave. Or out hidden on the southside.
Missed the better high school Marquette Academy
You mean the private one people had to be pretty well off to attend? Idk about better had a few friends that ended up being junkies and going to jail that went there because it was "better" turns out thats just where the better more expensive drugs were.
The radium girls!
This my town idk wen u were here tho not 4 days ago there was melting snow nd it's was like 50 40sum ° rn
If you look at the bottom there's a date. 08/07/2020
I live right by Ottawa lol damn
My Hometown 👍Born & Raised here 👍My Grandma & Great Aunt's worked at Radium Dial☹️🙏
If u would of went straight at 19:27 u would went past my house!
You should go up to Lake Geneva Wisconsin sometime too
Geiger counters should be mandatory there.
Maybe I missed it, but did you mention that this is pretty much the home of the founder of the Boy Scouts of America? There’s a museum that I’ve never made it to.
You didn’t hear me say that because I didn’t mention it! I saw it when researching and was going to add it, but somehow I forgot to.
I have been raised in Ottawa my whole life, and since I am not old enough to leave I am still here.
This town is nice to visit, but a visit is all you need I feel.
Just like there is toxic waste, there are a lot of toxic people in this town. Especially when you go to the schools.
In summary: a visit to Ottawa for a day or for a little bit is nice. But living here is absolute torture.
One thing is for sure tho, I’m getting out of this place one way or another.
You totally should've gone down Ottawa Avenue, it's the prettiest street in town!
Hi , I live in suburb Marionette Park and the rent here is outrageous I was just wondering how much is the rent down there and it's the cost of living cheaper because I live right off from Chicago in a small suburb.
Pert near everything here costs less than the suburbs.
@@jaybobred6552 , I believe you cuz it's very expensive here in Cook County I'll rent here is $1100 a month