John McGivern’s Main Streets

- I'm in the second-largest city in the state of Indiana, a place that is always reinventing itself.

- "John McGivern's Main Streets" thanks the following underwriters... [light music] - Greendale is proud to be the inspiration for "John McGivern's Main Streets."

This historic village is a real place where all are welcome... to gather, to shop, to enjoy.

Charming, vibrant, joyful, welcoming... You've just got to see Greendale.

- I'm on my way Oh, it's time to hit the road I'm on my way This is the freedom I live for - Remember when the American Dream was being able to say, "I made that.

I built that."?

Wouldn't it be great if your kids and grandkids chose a career that provides that kind of pride with good pay, but without a ton of student loan debt?

A four-year degree isn't the only path to success.

We need talented people to make and build on main streets everywhere.

Skilled work isn't a thing of the past.

It's a bright future.

- Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Plum Media and the Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

Thanks, friends!

- 'Cause these are our Main Streets Something 'bout a hometown speaks to me There's nowhere else I'd rather be The heart and soul of community's right here On these Main Streets - I'm in Fort Wayne, Indiana, along a stretch of West Columbia that is now known as 'The Landing,' which is in reference to a major canal that was about one block north of here.

In the early 1800s, this is exactly where this town's first hotel, first post office, and first library were.

This was the Main Street.

Fort Wayne is in the northeast part of Indiana, with a population of about 270,000 people.

It's about 150 miles southeast of Chicago, 120 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

And this is home to three rivers, which Emmy would love to talk about.

Emmy, time to talk about the rivers.

– Emmy Fink: Fort Wayne was established where the St. Joseph, St. Marys, and Maumee Rivers merge.

A massive canal project brought trade and commerce to the area but quickly became obsolete with the coming of the railroad.

The town then reinvented itself as a center of innovative manufacturing.

Today, it has one of the lowest costs of living in the U.S., and the population is over 268,000.

- A lot of you may know that I was raised Catholic-- parochial school my entire education.

This is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the Cathedral for the Diocese of Fort Wayne and South Bend.

And right next door to the Cathedral is something called the Diocesan Museum.

Never heard of one before.

I can't wait to go take a look.

It's going to feel like I'm at home.

Yeah.

[church organ music] First, we need to define diocesan.

– Kathy Imler: A diocese is pretty much a geographical location, and it's presided over by a bishop.

Our territory takes up Fort Wayne, up around South Bend, and then, a lot of little parishes in between there.

But that's our location.

- Who thought of having a diocesan museum?

- Well, it started with Father Phillip Widmann, with Monsignor Durkin.

He was the rector at the Cathedral.

And at the time, in the '60s, there were churches that we're beginning to close.

And there were artifacts that were being abandoned.

That, with the Vatican II, where the environment of churches began to change-- they were taking out Communion railings, not so many statues.

- Sure.

- All the prayers in Latin, obviously set up so the priest's back is to the congregation.

- This is what it always was until then.

- Mm-hmm, yeah.

- Yeah.

- And that left a number of other artifacts just out in the cold.

It started in a classroom, with very few objects.

- Wow.

- And our oldest piece is a bowl from the time of Abraham.

So, we go way back.

Here's the handwritten Bible from the 1200s.

Here's your nun dolls.

- [John chuckles] - These are the old-time habits.

- Sure.

- With Vatican II, one of the things that kind of went out the window for many of them was the habit.

- Right.

- Even if you aren't Catholic, your sense of this kind of beauty is-- - Yeah.

- A lot of people are just fascinated to see all of that.

And it's part of the joy of being able to present it to people.

- This is a true recreation of an 1815 fort that back then was built by U.S. troops.

And how true?

Well, when they constructed this fort, they used the same plans that they used on the 1815 fort.

Everything looks exactly the same.

I mean, right down to the flagpole that's flying a flag with 15 stars.

It's used for reenactments, for battles of the Vikings, all the way up to World War II, and they do that to educate and to entertain the public.

It's quite a fort.

So guess what the name of this fort is.

Okay, so they didn't tell me, but I'm just going to assume that it is Fort Wayne.

[upbeat music] We're at Sweetwater.

– Thad Tegtmeyer: Sweetwater began as a mobile recording studio.

Chuck Surack, in his VW bus, would go out to concerts, performances, church choirs and recorded that and took that home and mixed it down in his mobile-home trailer.

That's Chuck's original 4-track in the back of the VW bus there.

Chuck has a heart for helping musicians.

And that's really where the company began.

[playing notes] Hours of entertainment.

- It's so good.

[laughter] - Over time, Chuck just kept building and building and innovating to the point where we are today.

This is our recording room.

We've got a 44,000-square-foot store.

So this is band and orchestra.

It is the largest music store that I'm aware of in the United States.

We have the largest inventory of any music store in the country.

- So, people come in here, they can try all this out?

- Absolutely; You can see they're all out.

I want the customer to be able to come up here and grab this pedal.

And I can plug this in, and I can get a quick listen to what this pedal does.

- And they could be here for a while?

- [laughs] We're here to inform and to make sure that all of our customers, regardless of their level of knowledge, feel comfortable about what it is that they're purchasing.

- Yeah.

Are you a musician?

- I play guitar poorly.

I'm not Jeff Beck.

No, you're not.

- No.

- And that's okay.

3 chords and 15 minutes every day will lower your blood pressure.

It'll make you feel good.

And that's all you need.

- Just for a second.

[strumming lightly] Okay, I'm sweating.

We got to go.

Are we here another day?

[laughter] - Here, we have also what I believe is one of the crowning jewels of the campus, is our world-class recording studio.

- Our sound engineer is just like-- she's geeking out around all of it.

- Gail had to see the studio.

- I'm drooling.

We're going to get her to leave eventually.

Chuck never lost sight of the vision, which was, again, helping the customers have a great experience.

To me, that's kind of at the heart of who we are.

- Yeah.

That's good, isn't it?

- It's very good.

- [laughs] Yeah.

– Emmy Fink: Fort Wayne repurposed their first power generation plant into the city's most popular museum: Science Central.

- Such a great building-- just look for the smokestacks.

- It houses two floors filled with over 100 hands-on science exhibits.

It's STEM education at its finest.

Be sure to check out the programmable "Science On a Sphere."

It's a favorite among the 135,000 annual visitors.

- What makes it a children's zoo?

– Rick Schuiteman: It's a good question.

So it all goes to design, really.

When you go into the exhibits, first thing you'll notice is that it's all open.

- Look, they're digging a hole.

- Oh, cute!

- The child can walk right in and see the exhibit clearly without a fence, without a gate, without having the parent have to pick them up.

All of our educational information, all the graphics, we try to have low.

We try to have interactive so there's something they can touch or feel.

Kids can walk right up and do what we're doing.

- They can just get the lettuce and feed these giraffes.

And I never had that experience as a kid where you could just walk up and feed a giraffe face-to-face.

- Right.

- There you go.

[upbeat music] [laughs] See that tongue?

It's bluish-black because it's a sun protector.

Yeah, I'm not making this up.

They just told me-- the people that are taking care of these giraffes.

- This is a full-on, legitimate, world-class zoo.

I mean, we've got 1,600 animals-- giraffes.

- You see the mama lion?

- I don't see the mama lion.

Where's the mama lion?

- And lions and tigers and kangaroos.

It's just a beautiful, beautiful zoo.

- How many acres?

- It's about 40 acres.

We have about 600,000 guests a year.

- Good for you.

- And we're seasonal.

So, you know, we're closed during the winter season, but year-round, we have about 100 staff members.

We also have 500 volunteers.

- Is that right?

- Love it.

- And you depend on this community's support, right?

- We do, you know, that's one of the things that I didn't know about the zoo when I first took the job.

It's self-supporting.

We don't get any tax dollars.

- None.

- So, all the money that comes to the zoo is through our general admission, through sponsors, or through kind donors.

So there's nothing that comes from the city, from local taxpayers.

- And is that typical for zoos?

- No, we are one of less than ten zoos in the country.

So, most zoos-- there's hundreds of zoos in the country-- do get some type of support from the government.

We've got four baby wildebeests.

They were born last August.

And they were born right here in front of our guests.

They all stood around watching the birth of these wildebeests.

Yeah.

This is just stunning.

- I'm in the History Center, where they have an incredible display-- in fact, an entire room of inventions that happened here in Fort Wayne, like the refrigerator, like the gas pump, like the first video game console, all happened right here in Fort Wayne.

And there's an inventor from Fort Wayne whose name is Philo T. Farnsworth, who invented something that 60% of Americans have three or more of these in their home.

What did he invent?

[quirky music] - Many people give credit to Philo T. Farnsworth for the invention of the TV.

He created the first electronic television and then built them in Fort Wayne.

So, John, I guess we have Philo to thank for the TV and our jobs.

[chuckles] - That is the coolest sign I've ever seen.

Made in 1957, put on top of that building.

Don't you love it?

We're at a company called Peg-Prego.

And who is Peg?

- Nicolas Prego: My grandfather's name was Giuseppe, with a G, so he blended his last name-- P, as Prego-- and the G as Giuseppe, and made up Peg-Prego.

So it's not a person.

- People believe it's Peggy, don't they?

- Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Yeah, here in the U.S. - That's what I thought.

I thought it was your mom.

Tell us what this company is known for making.

- Well, we're known for baby products, car seats, high chairs, and strollers but also ride-on toys.

We make many ride-on toys here in the U.S., here in Fort Wayne.

- There you go.

- Oh, there we go.

- For primarily the U.S., the Canadian markets, and a little bit in Mexico and South America.

We make these products in Italy, as well... - You do?

- For the European market.

- John Deere?

- Also, John Deere, yeah.

- Oh, you do?

- And how many different motorized toys do you have?

- We have around 20 SKUs-- mostly color variations or accessory variations.

[tool whirring] - How long does it take to build one?

- On this line, we can make, depending on the amount of people, 500 a day, 200,000 a year.

- How many employees work here?

- Company worldwide is 1,200 employees.

- Wow.

- Yeah.

- But full-time in the U.S., we're around 100 people.

And this is a high chair that turns into a swing.

Here we do the toys, and then we distribute the baby products we buy from Italy.

We import from Italy.

- Oh, okay.

But they're not made here?

- They're made in Italy.

- Oh, it's like a magic trick, Nick.

- This is our most popular high chairs.

They're called the Siesta.

- Where did this company start?

- The company started in Italy in 1949.

My grandparents were expecting a child and needed a baby carriage.

And back then, it was very hard to find one in Italy in 1949, and very expensive.

So my grandfather decided to make one on his own.

You can fold the seat like this.

And that kind of folds like this.

- Can you imagine this being under the Christmas tree?

Oh.

That's deluxe.

- [chuckles] [upbeat music] This is a remarkable theater.

It's called the Embassy Theatre in downtown Fort Wayne.

It was built in 1928 as a motion-picture palace.

Vaudeville was also welcomed here.

And I love this fact.

This theater was Bob Hope's first emcee job, right here.

It's unbelievable, but in the 1970s, it was saved from the wrecking ball with just two days to spare.

Now it's home to Broadway tours and national musical acts and different architectural styles that seem to blend and live and work together so incredibly well.

This building-- remarkable.

– Barbara Baekgaard: Vera Bradley bag, and then, you'll see the-- - The appeal to this is really the vibrancy, the colors... - Yeah, yeah.

- The patterns, quilted.

Quilted totes and... - Yeah, well, it started, if you want to go back that far, 40 years ago.

- 40 years ago.

- A friend of mine, Pat, and I-- we were sitting in the Atlanta airport.

And I said, "Nobody has anything colorful and pretty"-- all-black luggage and canvas.

So, my girls were at Michigan State, and sent them off to school with these bags, which I made.

- So, they went to college and people were like, "Where'd you get that bag?"

- Yes, yes, yes.

- Is that how that worked?

- So, Pat and I both put in $250.

And here we are, you know, we ship close to $2 million a day... - A day?

- In product, yes.

- Vera is your mom?

- Vera's my mom.

- Vera Bradley, okay.

- Bradley's my maiden name.

- Is there something that is iconically Vera Bradley?

– Molly Shea: I definitely think a paisley is something that's very Vera Bradley and something that it's known for and just that hint of whimsy, as well.

We've done over 2,000 prints probably since the start of Vera Bradley in 1982.

- Is there a line that I could pull off?

- Heck, yeah, solid navies.

- Yeah.

- I think it's all in how you rock it.

It's all in the confidence.

- Yeah.

- You can wear whatever you want.

So this is our pattern wall.

Most of us who work at the design center can point out when we started by a pattern.

- You're a product designer.

- I'm a product designer.

- There's two types of designers, are there not?

- Yeah.

- Product and... - Print.

- Print.

- They kind of start by hand-sketching and painting and just working with different mediums.

And then, they'll eventually kind of move into the computer.

And then, we start hand-sketching as well for bag design.

And then, eventually, it just turns into a beautiful... - It's pretty remarkable.

Yeah, so, take a look at any of this pattern... - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

- Any color in there and to find a solid that goes with that.

- Oh, yeah.

- And to mix and match all of it, it's the best, isn't it?

- It's so fun.

- And the line has certainly now expanded.

- So, now we've expanded into handbags, rolling luggage, beach bag, blankets, apparel, footwear, umbrellas.

- Yeah.

- Anything, you name it.

- So the story of two women in a basement in Fort Wayne turning into this-- it's a great story.

- So, we currently have 650 associates in northeast Indiana.

And then, nationwide, we have 2,400 associates.

- Well, that's quite a workforce for Fort Wayne, Indiana, isn't it?

- It is.

From 20 people to that in a 40-year span is just a great achievement.

- Yeah.

– Barbara Baekgaard: We have people coming and going a lot.

- Yeah.

- And where to have them stay was always an issue to me.

- Right.

- So, we built the hotel.

- You built the hotel?

- Designed it, yes, decorated.

I had anything visually-- the decor, the building, all that, yes.

I don't want to be Leona Helmsley.

- Right.

- No.

- You're not down there at the front desk?

- No, no, I don't want be in the hotel business.

- Okay.

- But when we built the hotel, I said, "This is going to be the easiest place to staff because you don't have to hire people and say 'be nice.'"

We hire nice people.

- Oh, there we go.

- And they say, "Who trains them?"

Their parents did that, thank you.

You know, I mean, it's just a nice place.

Good... - That's a good way to go.

- Good people.

- Congratulations on that, as well!

- Thank you.

Oh, it was nothing.

- Was it?

– Emmy: A major gateway to downtown Fort Wayne was rebuilt and rededicated in 2012.

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Bridge features inspirational quotes and images of the civil-rights leader.

Part of the redesign allows the bridge to be pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly.

At night, the bridge is illuminated with over 700 LED lights.

They're customized for special events and holidays.

What a beautiful focal point for the city!

- This is the old Wells Street Bridge, and that's St. Marys River.

And this is Fort Wayne's newest park-- Promenade Park.

It opened in August of 2019, and it's the first phase of a well-planned park.

Public had their input, and what a great use of space.

Look, there's an amphitheater.

There's boat tours.

There's a boat launch.

They have kayak rentals.

And if you take a look over there, that is a walkway that goes through the treetop canopy.

And all I want to do is take a walk.

[giggles] [whispering] Okay, shh.

Shh.

We're in the library.

For a town of 280,000, is this a typical library?

– Curtis Witcher: It is not.

- Yeah.

- And you might ask why?

- Yeah.

- Because this community has been in a centuries-long love affair with this library because it educates, it entertains, and enriches the community.

- Which is the job of a library.

- Exactly.

- Yeah.

- Exactly.

- That's great.

We are in the genealogy department of this library.

It's how many square feet of genealogy study?

- 42,000 square feet.

- That's crazy.

Okay, I said that loud.

- Right, right.

- No, that's crazy.

- It is.

Most libraries have fixed the shelves like this.

Because we have such a large collection, the books that are less frequently used is housed in this Western room.

If you wanted to get into that row, you just tell the others to get out of your way.

- Thank you for opening up a little wider for us.

- It's all about, you know, providing you and I with insight.

We have a DNA expert who was doing DNA before people knew how to spell DNA.

I mean, she has worked-- [laughter] - What else do people come to the library for?

- One of the best collections of Abraham Lincoln-- life and times, photographs, books, letters, documents-- that you'll find anywhere.

- How did this happen here?

- Short version is there was this insurance company that wanted to be known as an honest insurance company, so they wrote to the Lincoln family, saying, "Can we use Lincoln's name-- Honest Abe?"

They wrote back and said yes, and here's the letter.

From that just grew this collection, that was the largest Lincoln collection in private hands 'till in the early 2000s.

And the new CEO said, "Can we find a better home for these?"

We said we would digitize everything we legally could do in this collection, and make it available for people online for free.

We have 4 what we call 180 projections.

So, like, you can just walk into this scene, and some try to position themselves so it looks like they're sitting in the chair that Lincoln has his hand on.

So, yeah.

- Hot.

- This is the most popular photograph.

The spirit photographer captured Abraham Lincoln's spirit, or so Mary Todd thought.

Anyone who might think they're even casually interested in Lincoln... - This the place to be... - The Civil War... - To come to, yeah.

- It is.

I'm in Camp Allen Park, and during the Civil War, most of the northeastern Indiana troops were trained right here.

But that's not why it's famous.

It became famous six years after that war because after that war, the first professional game of a very popular sport was played right here.

What's the sport?

[quirky music] - In May of 1871, the Fort Wayne Kekiongas defeated the Cleveland Forest Citys 2-0 in our nation's very first professional league baseball game.

The Kekiongas named themselves after the original Native American settlement on the area's three rivers.

Parkview Field is the home of Fort Wayne's minor-league baseball team, the Tin Caps.

Why are they called the Tin Caps?

It's a nod to the hat famously worn by Johnny Appleseed.

- No, thanks.

Do you have any cake?

- He lived his final days and is buried in Fort Wayne, and the city celebrates him every year with an apple festival.

Okay, Clarence, my turn.

[crunches] Mmm.

You're too little.

- Mickey Mantle?

- Mickey Mantle sat where you sit.

- I look at this room.

There's a couple stools left.

There isn't a seat at a table.

The place is packed, and people are eating these hot dogs.

This is an institution-- Coney Island hot dog.

- It's the best institution, John.

What do you have to do with this place, Kathy?

- Well, I come from a long line of weenies.

Even though this place opened in 1914... - Yeah?

- My grandfather... - That's your grandpa?

- He became an owner in 1916.

- 1916?

- Yes.

And it's been in our family ever since.

- So it comes with what?

- Sauce, mustard, and onions.

- Sauce, mustard-- - But you can have it-- If you don't like onions-- - And what's the sauce?

- Oh, we don't talk about the sauce.

- Okay.

[laughter] I'd like one to start.

- Oh, yes, that's a good idea.

- Is it a good idea?

- Yeah.

One time we had a father and his two young strapping sons, each one of 'em ordered a dozen.

And then, each one had six more.

So they had, you know, 18 hot dogs apiece.

These people, they came in.

Their parents brought them in, and their grandparents brought their parents in, and it goes all the way back.

- I'll have another one.

[laughs] - So they lived their lives.

I mean, restaurant business is tough.

- Yeah.

- Being able to survive, especially these days.

But to be over 100 years old, it's the people.

And they've always felt welcome here.

And the product is sensational.

They hand-chop every day.

- Mmm.

- Fresh everything because we don't have a freezer for stuff either.

- What's the trick with these now?

- Also homemade.

- Sweet.

- Yeah, sweet.

- They're good.

- What's the recipe?

- No recipe's coming out of this place, buddy.

[John chuckles] [upbeat music] - The Forest Park Boulevard Historic District is a lovely drive through colonial and Tudor-style homes.

The area started as a 1912 plan to link the city parks with wide boulevards.

And it soon became home to many community leaders.

- You just keep going.

I found my new neighborhood.

I'm moving to Fort Wayne.

- A great entryway into the district is nearby Lakeside Park, known for its rose bushes and sunken gardens.

I can see why you want to live there, John.

- Spectacular.

[upbeat rock music] Fort Wayne-- it was great to experience this reinvented Indiana city.

There's nowhere else I'd rather be The heart and soul of community - Excuse me, did I just call you Gert?

- [chuckles] - Sorry.

- It's probably in your living room or your TV room.

[laughs] - Did you hear him pooping?

- No.

[laughter] - Right, no, thanks.

I'd like a doughnut.

[person laughs] - [growls] - [chuckles] Was that the lion or you?

- That was the lion.

- "John McGivern's Main Streets" thanks the following underwriters... [light music] - Greendale is proud to be the inspiration for "John McGivern's Main Streets."

This historic village is a real place where all are welcome... to gather, to shop, to enjoy.

Charming, vibrant, joyful, welcoming... You've just gotta see Greendale!

[exciting music] - I'm on my way Oh, it's time to hit the road I'm on my way This is the freedom I live for - Remember when the American Dream was being able to say, "I made that, I built that"?

Wouldn't it be great if your kids and grandkids chose a career that provides that kind of pride with good pay but without a ton of student loan debt?

A four-year degree isn't the only path to success.

We need talented people to make and build on main streets everywhere.

Skilled work isn't a thing of the past.

It's a bright future.

- Additional funding is provided by the Friends of Plum Media and the Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

Thanks, friends!

– Lois Maurer: Okay, John, what did you think of it?

Vera Bradley?

- Is that saying enough for you, Lois?

- [Lois laughs] - Come on, I may share.