From 1910 to the 1920s, young women called the Radium Girls worked in Orange, New Jersey and in Ottawa, Illinois. They used radium paint to make tiny details on clocks and watch faces making them glow in the dark. They were mostly in their 20s, although some of them were as young as 11. 

New Jersey Radium Girls, “The Girls: The Radium Girls.” Mysite 1

The women worked in companies including the United States Radium Corporation in New Jersey and Radium Dial Company in Illinois. The demand for these watches was high because the US had just entered WWI and the soldiers were all supplied with them.

Despite the Radium Corporation telling the girls radium was safe to work with, the owners were careful to not be exposed to it themselves. The company’s own chemists made sure to handle radium behind lead shields, while the workers themselves were not given anything for protection from the element. The companies decided to keep information about the possible dangers of radium from reaching their workers.