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Explore the city of yesteryear

East Chicago, Indiana, was a melting pot. The Indiana Harbor neighborhood drew comparisons to Ellis Island as immigrants flocked from all over the world to work at its steel mills. Once home to more than a hundred nationalities, the “Workshop of America” made metal and many other products. Despite issues like pollution and political corruption, it earned the nickname “City of Champions,” winning state titles, sustaining a historic high school rivalry, and producing greats like Gregg Popovich and Junior Bridgeman.

Award-winning Region journalist and Lost Hammond author Joseph S. Pete explores bygone landmarks like Washington and Roosevelt High Schools, Inland Steel Christmas parties, the zoo, Taco Joe’s, the Mademoiselle Shoppe, movies palaces, the gym where Michael Jordan played his first Bulls game, and more.

Germans in Milwaukee: A Neighborhood History chronicles the stories behind the German footprints in the city.

Like no other large American city, Germans dominated Milwaukee. Their presence inhabits the city's neighborhoods from its buildings and place names to its parklands and statuary. Their influence also lives in the memories shared by local residents. A small Milwaukee neighborhood south of Miller Valley was christened after a farmer's pigs, and a busboy turned beer baron built the famous Pabst Brewery in West Town. A ghost is said to haunt the old Blatz Brewing compound. And the remains of the early tanning industry can still be seen in Walker's Point.

Compiling over 1,200 interviews through their organization, Urban Anthropology Inc., authors Jill Lackey and Richard Petrie share these ground-level perspectives of the lasting German influence on the Cream City.

Department stores were a midwest institution, none more prominent in downtown Columbus Ohio than F&R Laazarus & Company.

For more than 150 years, F&R Lazarus & Company was the heart of downtown Columbus. Headed by the first family of American retailing with an eye for flair and a devotion to the customer, this uniquely midwestern institution won the hearts and minds of a community. Look to Lazarus draws on the memories of those who worked and shopped in this grand emporium to tell the unlikely story of a love affair between a city and a store. It was a love affair born of the solemn promise You can always take it back to Lazarus, no questions asked.

Ghouls of the Glacial Lakes and Prairie Region

Buried in the annals of the region are torrid tales, disasters and the unexplained. At historic Fort Sisseton, the old hanging tree and a phantom buffalo soldier are just a few of its spectral stories. Partygoers from over a century ago still linger at Aberdeen’s Easton Castle. De Smet’s historic Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead attracts thousands of visitors annually, many unaware of its familial spirts. Locals in Watertown still debate whether the apparition at the Goss Opera House is that of a traveling performer named Annie or murder victim Maud Alexander, who was set on fire by her own son. Victims of a 1940 train wreck between Milbank and Marvin seemingly never left the scene of the accident. And Captain Luff of The Muskegon disaster can be seen mourning on the banks of Big Stone Lake. Author Deborah Cuyle chronicles the area’s most fascinating and perplexing lore. 

Lovers of theater in Cleveland and beyond are sure to enjoy this story of grand ambition and determined perseverance

Cleveland was one of the largest cities in America when Playhouse Square opened as a testament to the city's splendor. In 1921, Loew's State, Loew's Ohio, the Hanna Theatre and the Allen opened their doors, and Keith's Palace Theater, then the world's finest theater, greeted patrons in 1922. For fifty years these theaters prospered before falling on hard times. Three even faced demolition. But through visionary planning, hard work and civic pride these magnificent show palaces survived and thrive today, and Playhouse Square Center is once again the largest theater center outside of New York's Lincoln Center.

Playhouse Square volunteer Redcoat and tour guide Michael R. Routa celebrates the people who made and saved theater in Cleveland.