Steel Reborn

The Pythian Castle Lodge, also known as Crystal Palace, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, was built in 1927 by the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal organization. In 1988 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.The Knights of Pythias is a fraternal organization founded in 1864 in Washington, D.C., aiming to promote the qualities of friendship, loyalty, honor and justice demonstrated in the ancient Greek legend of Damon and Pythias. Chapters sprouted up across the U.S., including one in Milwaukee in 1870. This was Schiller Lodge #3, and it was a German-speaking group. By the 1890s Schiller lodge had switched to an English-language ritual and Milwaukee had three other Pythian lodges on the south side: Taylor Lodge, Walker Lodge, and National Lodge No. 141. In 1909 those four men's lodges banded together with Pythian Sisters Purity Temple and the Rathbone Sisters Star Temple. The merged group rented meeting spaces for years. In 1921 they decided to build their own hall.The new meeting hall on National Avenue was designed by Milwaukee architect Richard Oberst. It is a two-story brick structure on a poured concrete foundation with a roof that is flat in parts and hipped elsewhere, covered in clay tile. This much is a Mediterranean Revival style. But the structure also has pavilions on the corners with curve-topped parapets, drawn from Spanish Colonial Revival style.Oberst also designed the Excelsior Masonic Temple at 2422 W. National Avenue in Milwaukee, a Classical Revival building from 1922 that was deemed to be NRHP-eligible but was not listed on the NRHP due to owner objection.This Pythian Castle was built during the heyday of the Pythians. In the 1920s they were the third largest fraternal organization in the western world. Unlike the Freemasons, the Pythians rented their space out to other organizations, including labor groups like the Order of Railroad Engineers, the Harvester Tool Makers, Painters and Varnishers, the Firefighters Local No. 215, the Hatters Local, and the Die Sinkers Union; also the Squirrel Club, the South Side Civic Association, and the Navy Fathers.

Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, formerly Potawatomi Bingo Casino, is a Native American casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, owned and operated by the Forest County Potawatomi Community. It first opened its doors March 7, 1991. Located on Canal Street in the Menomonee Valley near Downtown Milwaukee, this entertainment destination offers a variety of entertainment options, including a 20-table poker room, multiple restaurants and dining options, a food court (with several vendors/small restaurants), the Northern Lights Theater, the Sky Lodge (a smoke-free casino), and a 500-seat two-tiered theater (the Northern Lights Theater) that combines entertainment and dining. It's a popular destination spot for visitors outside of Milwaukee.

The Goodwill Industries Building is a former knitting factory in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where Oliver and Robert Friedman developed innovative rehab programs for the blind and mentally handicapped in the 1930s and 40s. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

Tending the Fire is a public art work produced by MJM Studios located on the south side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the Menomonee Valley. The bronze sculpture depicts a Native American figure seated near a small fire.

Space Game is a public artwork by American artist Joseph Mendla. The piece is located at 1515 West Canal Street, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. This piece was made originally for an indoor setting to be placed as three pieces and no base. Mendlay ended up giving this piece to Peck Meat Packing Corporation. The concrete base and lights were added. Even after the Peck family sold their slaughterhouse business in the late 1980s the sculpture still remains.

Angel in a Cage is a public artwork by American artist Richard Pflieger located on Canal Street, which is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The public sculpture is made up of a steel tower with an angel suspended inside.

Menomonee is a public artwork by artist Hilary Goldblatt located on the former Emmber Foods, Inc. grounds on the south side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. The Cor-Ten steel piece is a horizontal constructivist abstract form composed of beams forming angles and open spaces. It was created in 1985 and is 4.5' high, 20' long and 4' wide.

Oops, Missed is a public artwork by American Bernard Peck located at 1515 West Canal Street, just off the 16th street viaduct, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was dedicated in July 1987. It is made of brick and stainless steel.

The Menomonee Valley or Menomonee River Valley is a U-shaped land formation along the southern bend of the Menomonee River in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Because of its easy access to Lake Michigan and other waterways, the neighborhood has historically been home to the city's stockyards, rendering plants, shipping, and other heavy industry. It was also a primary source of pollution for the river. Glacial meltwater formed the Menomonee Valley over 10,000 years ago when the Lake Michigan Lobe of the Wisconsin Glaciation retreated and eroded a swath four miles (6 km) long and half of a mile wide. Today, it is roughly bounded by the 6th Street Viaduct near the river confluence and Miller Park stadium to the west. The valley effectively cuts Milwaukee in half, limiting access to a handful of viaducts that span the chasm. With a historically predominant white south side and black near north side, the valley has been perceived as a social and racial divide during times of civil unrest. In the 1960s, Father James Groppi organized protests against segregation in Milwaukee and led a number of fair housing marches across this symbolic divide. The 16th Street Viaduct has since been renamed in his honor.

A Place to Sit is a public artwork by American artist Kathryn E. Martin, located along the Art Look of the Hank Aaron State Trail, situated on the south side of the Menomonee River, in the city of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. The work was dedicated on October 8, 2009.

The Excelsior Masonic Temple (now the Life Restoration Church) is a historic building located at 2422 West National Avenue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Built in 1923, and designed in the Classical Revival style by architect Richard Oberst, the building was originally constructed as a meeting hall for Excelsior Lodge #175 F.&A.M (a local Masonic Lodge that is no longer in existence). The building was sold by the Lodge in the 1990s, and is now used by a local church.The building is deemed to be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, but was not listed due to owner objection.

St. Martini Evangelical Lutheran Church is a historic church built in 1887 to serve the growing German immigrant population in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The brick church building was designed by German-born architect Herman Paul Schnetzky in a Gothic Revival style. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.Milwaukee's near South Side was first settled in the early 1850s, by a mix of German immigrants and Yankees. In years that followed, they were joined by Irish, Swedes, Norwegians, Poles and Serbians; the neighborhood is a melting pot. St. Stephen's Lutheran Church served this neighborhood for years, until in 1884 a group forked off to form St. Martini. They built a school in 1883, and began to plan their own church building.They hired Herman Paul Schnetzky, a German immigrant, to design their new building. Schnetzky designed a gable-roofed main block with cream brick walls pierced by lancet windows - a hallmark of Gothic Revival style. A square central tower dominates the front, with a round stained glass window in the first stage, a belfry in the second stage, a steeple above that, and a cross topping them all, 150 feet above the ground. Two short towers at the corners of the building flank the central tower. Like the central tower, they are each decorated with four small pinnacles. A rationale for Gothic Revival style is that the steeple and window tops all point toward heaven. Inside, the main auditorium has a vaulted plaster ceiling. Cast iron columns support barrel vaults. The layout is center-aisle, with a balcony with pipe organ above the entry facing the altar in the apse. The building was completed in 1887 at a cost of $14,327.After all these years the church remains very intact and still serves as a visual landmark on the South Side.