Ottawa, Illinois Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Industry== [[File:VetsMemBridgeOttawaIL.jpg|thumb|[[Veterans Memorial Bridge (Ottawa, Illinois)|Veterans Memorial Bridge]] over the [[Illinois River]] in Ottawa]] Because of numerous silica sand deposits (Ottawa sand was on board the ill-fated Columbia space shuttle for experimental purposes) Ottawa has been a major sand and glass center for more than 100 years. Transportation of the sand is facilitated by the navigable Illinois river and the [[Illinois Railway]] Ottawa Line. One of its largest employers is Pilkington Glass works, a successor to LOF (Libbey Owens Ford). Formerly concentrated in automotive glass, the plant now manufactures specialty glass and underwent a $50 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=50000000|start_year=2006}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) renovation in 2006. 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. Sabic recently purchased GE Plastics, a successor to Borg Warner automotive glass manufacture, operates a large plastics facility in Ottawa, and is a major employer. Ottawa sand is a standard testing medium in [[geotechnical engineering]] (laboratory demonstrations and research into new technologies). Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page