Hilda Schwartz has watched German Village grow from the ground up — practically speaking. She was there when the immigrants arrived, when the first brick streets were laid, when the houses on these lots were still young. She has a milkmaid's constitution: practical, steady, and impossible to rattle.

These days she keeps watch over Schwartz Castle, a landmark that carries as much history as any building in the neighborhood. She'll point out the details that get overlooked: the craftsmanship in the stonework, the way the light hits the façade in the morning, the generations of hands that have touched the same walls. Hilda believes a building is only a landmark if someone bothers to remember why it matters. She's made it her business to remember.