Lately I’ve been fascinated with old buildings and their history.

There are many clues to the past out there, although they’re easy to overlook.

Krause Grocery & Meats (like 99% of other neighborhood grocers) no longer exists.

Some buildings stand empty, home to only the ghosts of businesses that used to inhabit them.

Others, like the former Capital Heat & Power, are still performing similar functions under newer names.

Still others, like the former Kupfer Iron Works, have been transformed, and given new life.

The steel gantry from the former iron works is one of my favorite things about Madison’s Goodman Community Center. Now there is a solar collector mounted above the gantry’s crane, and a playground underneath.

Do any of the children gaze at the gantry and wonder what it was used for?