You just never know what you might learn when you go wandering around downtown Milwaukee. There's a stretch of a few blocks pulled together with over-the-street walkways and glassed-in public areas to create an urban shopping mall called Grand Avenue Mall. It's along Wisconin Ave., which was historically the "Grand Avenue." Toward the eastern end the mall crosses Plankinton Ave. And a part of the Mall is made up of what was once Plankinton Arcade.

The Wisconsin Historical Society says,

There are skylights and chandeliers in the ceiling, and railings along the mezzanine. Interior storefronts line the exterior walls. On the first floor is a statue in an enclosure. This building housed Plankinton House Hotel until 1915. The Plankinton Arcade was built on its site, and is now part of the Grand Avenue Mall.

Plankinton (with partners over the years named Cudahy, Armour, and Layton) defined the meat packing buiness in Wisconsin and even Chicago.